#she says this : things she didnt say at all back in paris or even after | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

imkillerbae · 11 months

Text

Thinking of You (Valorant Chamber x Fem!Reader) (Angst, Fluff)

Summary: Chamber arrives with his team in Paris, the city of love. Or so they say. They take a little detour on memory lane.

Word count: 3k🤯😬

CW: Slowbubrn, Angst, lots of regret, lots of fluffiness at the end, drama, lots of crying, the author loves to see the reader and Chamber suffer. (A/N: This was supposed to be an Angst/Smut fic, but I kinda removed the smut cuz it didnt fit. Should i write chamber smut tho cuz idk if anybody wants it. Feel free to request.)

-----

The city of Love. Or so the rest of the team called it. Astra and Skye both marveled at the old buildings below them, pointing out the beautiful churches and bustling life on the streets. “If I knew we’d be here, I would’ve asked Jett to come with us,” Phoenix yelled so he could be heard, the sound of the aircraft drowning his voice into a whisper. “I’m envious. How does it feel to be back home Chamber?” Yoru asks rhetorically, smirking and chuckling to himself.

Chamber caressed the case of his gun, eyeing the floors of the aircraft. He didn’t like being in Paris. The place that used to feel like home was now just a husk of what it used to be.

But it wasn’t always like this for him. There was a time when he didn’t feel pain coming back home to France. There was a time where the city of love truly felt like home. It was because of her.

She was the love of his life, the only one that he ever saw himself spending the rest of his days with. He remembered her soft locks of hair, those beautiful eyes, the feel of her skin, and her voice. After working abroad, she was the one he came home to. She was his home. Paris was the city of love.

She was a radianite engineer that worked for Kingdom Industries, smart and innovative. They met by chance through a project they both worked on. He chuckled in his seat, remembering how hard he tried to impress her with his weapons expertise and his golden business card. It was one of the very few moments that he actually tried to be cool. She found his efforts amusing, and after the fifth time he asked, she eventually said yes to a date. All expenses paid for by him, of course. He treated her like a queen.

She was an independent and level-headed woman, even after they became a thing. But anytime she would be in his arms, hidden away in their little sanctuary, in the house they built, on the bed they made, she turned into the gentlest and sickeningly in love person ever. He felt like he was wanted and needed. And if he ever disappeared, he would be missed. That was something he longed for, as someone who worked in the covert and secretive business. It was a comfort that someone who he loved was always there, looking for him.

He remembered fond memories of them, the vivid images swam in his head.

He held her hand, kissing it tenderly. “Ma cherie, you are so beautiful. Your radiance is something even radianite cannot contend with,” he said against her hand, then he proceeded to kiss her palm, then thumb, and finally, he pressed her pulse on his cheek. “What do you mean? My hair’s a mess,” she laughed, grabbing his other hand and squeezing. It was a lazy Sunday morning, and they decided to sleep in.

They sat on the bed, in front of each other with their legs crossed. The white sheets were strewn about, bedsheet crinkled at the corners. Outside the window, the sky was bright but gray. It was raining, the wind from the windows blowing on the curtains softly. The light from the outside was the only thing illuminating the room.

“Happy anniversary my love,” she whispered, moving closer, staring into his eyes. Their foreheads almost touch, and he gives her hand a gentle squeeze. He often travelled all over the world, but no view could ever compare to what was in front of him. “Happy anniversary, mon amour.” Quiet moments like these were close to his heart. His life was crazy, hectic and stressful, and with a kiss from her, a soft look, and a few encouraging words, all his worries would falter away. He gave her a peck on the lips, smiling. “Thank you for choosing me.”

He wished he could stay in that memory forever. But he couldn’t. He could only dream.

He had a mission to fulfill. Something that would change the world and his life forever. Together with his double, they would desecrate the whole Kingdom operation in Fracture. He had it all figured out: his weapons of choice, their positions, escape routes. Everything was accounted for.

Except for her.

He was already a person of suspicion in the whole operation after a lousy move he made. He made sure that she would be transferred to another site before the opening day of the reactor, much to her disappointment. She didn’t know that this wouldn’t be the only disappointment she would be having.

“I want to end things with you civilly,” he almost choked out his words. His expression was serious, but his heart was beating fast. His hands sweated in their gloves as she stared at him with wide eyes.

“What?” the word barely made it out of her lips. She held her night gown with clenched fists, trying her best to keep herself together.

“I’m moving to another country for a more… important job. Unfortunately, it entails isolation, and I’m afraid that it will be a hassle for me to keep this relationship going. So excusez-moi, I must pack for my flight,” he said as robotically and as coldly as he could, turning his back on her. He pretended to grab some of his clothes as she stood there silently, trying to understand what he said.

“B-but I don’t understand… Vincent we’ve made it work despite the distance… despite the long days and nights apart, and suddenly it’s a problem for you now?” She grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back to face her. That was what she always did, consulting logic before her emotions, but her tears told another story. It crushed his heart seeing her in tears.

“This job requires all of my attention, and I cannot have you as a distraction.” He replied curtly, looking into her teary eyes, and she took a step back. “I-is that all I am to you? A-a fucking distraction?” She says, but before he could reply a rehearsed sentence, she yells painfully. “We’ve been together for years Vincent! Years! I gave you everything, and I was ready to spend the rest of my life with you!” She cries, her voice echoing in the room. The moonlight was glaring at both of them in the dim room.

“What about us? What about me? You said you love me. You said you loved me!” She beats on his chest, but he does not move. He does not flinch or defend himself. He just stands still. “You lied, you lied to me.” She cried, and he couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed her cheeks and kissed her as if it was the last time. He held her like there was no tomorrow, and he touched her like he would be a dead man soon.

And as she woke the next morning, it was as if he was never there. As if he never existed. The bed was made up on his side.

That was the last time he’d seen her in the flesh. He made a deal with Cypher for updates about her. Apparently, she retired after the accident. She used all her money to start a small business in the heart of Paris. A café where she was the barista. It did well from what he could tell. She had her run of lovers, but currently she had no one. He chuckled, finding it hard to believe no one would be interested in the numerous regulars she had.

“Why are you smiling to yourself?” Phoenix pokes Chamber’s arm, and he snaps out of his trance. “He’s probably plotting something,” Skye jokes. “Why don’t you make use of your riches and pay for some pastries we could munch on!” Astra chimes as she hopped off the aircraft.

He breathed in the Parisian air. He smiles fondly. “I know a place.”

----------

“He’s paying right? He better be ready, cause I’m trying everything,” Yoru smirks as he eyed all the bread and pastries displayed behind the glass. Chamber stood behind all of them in the line. The café was moderately full that their commotion wasn’t something unusual. “Je voudrais pan au chocolate,” Sky says, or at least tries to. Her australian accent was apparent.

“You reckon we can beat each other with a baguette?” Phoenix asks, and Yoru smirks. “Only one way to find out. We’ll get two of those.” He requests.

“Okay, noted on that. Anything else?”

He tried to keep his composure, hands tucked inside his pockets. That voice was familiar, too familiar. He held his breath. It was her.

“Hmmmm, I want the croissant. Did I say that correctly? Anyway, what about you?” Astra says, pointing her golden fingers at him. She followed her gaze, and his face registered in her head almost instantly. They stare at each other as she waited for him to speak. She was frozen in place, but his voice melted her down.

“Coffee. Hold the cream please, merci.” He says simply, pulling out his credit card. It was designed with his iconic golden streaks, something she couldn’t mistake for anything else. She held her hand against her chest and spoke quietly. “Vincent?” She said carefully, shakily holding out her hand for the card. He instead took her hand and held it against his warm lips. “Y/N. Ça fait un bail, ma cherie,” he greets, squeezing her hand.

She pulls her hand away, stepping back from the counter. She was breathing heavily, panicking. “Excusez-moi,” she excuses herself and retreats into the back of the café. After a few moments, a different person serves them. The other agents eye Chamber strangely as he casually receives back his card. He was unbothered by all that, and they became curious.

Sometime as they sat on one of the booths, Chamber spotted someone from the counter in a hooded jacket, walking quickly out the door. He figured it would be her, so he stood up and followed. “What’s up with him,” Yoru asks, face stuffed with bread. “I don’t know, but it definitely had something to do with that pretty lady earlier,” Phoenix replies, cheeks fat. Skye takes pictures of them.

“Mademoiselle, please stop.” He starts, pulling her back by the wrist. But as she spun around, a strong slap lands on his face. The whole café stops and stares.

“Stop? For what? I don’t wanna hear anything you have to say.” She pulls her wrists free but he grabs her arms instead. He drags her upstairs to the second floor, a room mostly reserved for meetings, parties or other events. He locks the door behind him before facing her again.

“S’il vous plait, let me speak. Please Y/N, I missed you with all my heart,” he begins, but she struggles. “Shut up! Don’t lie to me, don’t speak to me, don’t, don’t…!” She cries, her struggling becoming weaker. Hearing him say he missed her made her break down and cry. Her knees got weaker and she leaned on to him, beating on his chest. “Let go of me! Let go…!” She cries harder, and it broke his heart hearing her voice crack and falter.

He pulled out a chair from under the table and sat her down as she broke down on the table. She cried in French, all the pent up frustration and anger pouring out of her. He couldn’t blame her. It was a bad idea coming here all of a sudden, bringing back distant painful memories she so desperately tried to move on from. But she couldn’t, and neither could he.

He sat there quietly, rehearsing what he was about to say. She looked different. She was older and more mature looking, her lips rogue red, arms more defined through her shirt. Her voice was the same, even as she cried. He missed her immensely, and wondered how it felt to be at home again, in her arms.

“I do not know what you are trying to do but I do not want to see you. I do not want you near me,” she says finally, leaning on the table. He kneeled in front of her and held her hand, his other hand on her cheek. “Mon amour, let me explain everything. Please, I did not mean to leave you, to leave us behind. I had to do it, for your sake. For the world’s sake. I had a mission, and I had to keep you safe.”

He then proceeds to explain the protocol and how they protected the world from thieves from another Earth. How radianite was in danger in this Earth, and everything that he felt was necessary to tell. He watched her look at him in disgust and confusion. Occasionally she would whisper ‘liar,’ but he willed himself to continue.

“I’ve suffered everyday knowing how much you’d come to hate me for my decision, and I lived with pain in my heart since I left. You were never not on my mind, ma cherie. Not a day goes by that I’ve not wondered how you were, who you were with, if you were safe or not. Believe me, I tried for your sake, for your peace of mind. I didn’t want to hurt you any more than I already have,” he removes his glasses, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

“Anytime I am in Paris, all I want to do is run home to you. Abandon everything, change my name and stay with you like before. If only life were that merciful,” he lays his head on her lap, squeezing her knee. She felt her skirt get wet, and she realized he was silently crying. Vincent never cried. It’s not my style, he once said. Her hand hovered above his head shakily. She was still mad, but she couldn’t deny her heart. She petted him as he wept, hugging her legs, begging her to listen. The lump in her throat was painful, but she spoke.

“D-do you still love me?” She asked, a tear running down her cheek. She wanted to hear it from him again. She longed for those words as much as he did hers. “I do, I always have,” he replies, looking up at her. She smiled through her tears, then bit her lip. “Please say it. Tell me you love me, please…” she begged, and he swallowed the lump in his throat. “I love you Y/N. I love you,” he replies, kissing her lips as he helped her up from her seat.

Their kiss was deep and filled with longing. He melted in her arms like cold butter on bread, and as much as her mind hated it, she embraced him. And when she’s able to gasp for air, he would give her pecks on the cheek, nose, chin. He could not get enough. After a while they both settled in silence, foreheads touching as he kept her steady in his arms. He never knew he was so deprived of love until he was home again.

He could tell that she was still hesitant, avoiding his eyes, but he caressed her cheek. “I promise, I will make it up to you. I will make up for all the pain I’ve caused, and all the time we’ve lost. Hurt me if you wish, just make me yours again.” He begged, and she looks up at him wearily. “H-how do I know you’re not going to leave me again… how do I know you’re not lying…” She sniffed.

“It was wrong of me to keep my job a secret from you before. I will not make that mistake again. But forgive me for withholding details. I do not want to put you in danger.” He begins. “If it will make you feel better, I would like to introduce you to some of my… coworkers. It was rather rude of us to leave them out of the blue.”

She sniffs but nods, wiping her tears. She pulls away from his embrace and straightens her skirt, wiping her hands on them. Her face was flushed red, eyes puffy from crying. He was going to have to explain a lot to the others.

-----------

“You have a girlfriend?!”

Most of the team was surprised, Astra immediately sending messages to the others about the latest tea. “Jett is gonna flip when she hears about this.”

“Man, I used to think all your pizzaz was just a ruse. Now I gotta take actual notes. Damn,” Phoenix slumped on his seat, staring at Y/N who was rather mesmerizing without her apron on. She chuckles lightly, shaking her head. “I’m not his girlfriend,” she corrects, biting the inside of her cheek. They all turn to Chamber as he sipped on his coffee nonchalantly. “Yet.” He continues, and she rolls her eyes. “It’s going to take a lot more than just words to convince me.”

“Do not worry. I do not intend to only charm you with my words. You’ll find that I am plenty fun with actions as well.” He chuckles, holding her hand underneath the table. She gazes at him softly and smiles. She doesn’t know how this will end, but somehow, with him being more honest, she was willing to give it another chance.

Yoru’s face scrunches up at the flirting happening in front of him. “Please, not in front of my croissant,” he groans, and Skye hits his shoulder. “Shush.” Y/N smiled at all of them. She was happy he had these people around him to keep him leveled.

#valorant chamber #chamber x reader #valorant chamber x reader #valorant imagines #valorant #valorant headcanons #valorant chamber imagines #valorant chamber oneshot #valorant oneshots #valorant oneshot #chamber #fanfiction #valorant fanfiction

151 notes · View notes

princesssmars · 2 years

Text

i think im gonna like it here

a headcanon about marinette and adrien meeting reader for the first time.

contains : fluff, adrien and marinette being kinda whipped

a/n : this is how i cope with not liking this show anymore enjoy

from the first time they saw you, adrien and marinette knew they wanted you to know more about you.

you were a new student at collège drançoise dupont, trasnfering from a different country.

you had told the principal that you didnt know much about paris, only having visited when you were really young. and so he suggested 2 of his best students show you around.

they were lucky they were chosen and it wasnt up to who their teacher picked at will, because as soon as you walked into the room they could tell everyone was intrested in you.

the tour was just walking around and showing you parts of the school, giving them some periods off, making marinette rejoice that she had science off and adrien smiling at her.

as they walked you around campus, you introduced yourself and talked more about yourself, giving them your name (which they both thought was pretty)

after deeming them both alright, you told them more about your situation, how your parents were pretty wealthy and moved to a different country every few months, so you didnt really try to make new friends anymore.

they both understood, adrien even more so because of the pressures of his father.

after the campus tour finished, the pair asked if you wanted an actual tour around paris, and who could pass up two cute people willing to show you around a beautiful city?

adrien convinced the gorilla to drive you all to the places they wanted to show you, the first stop being mari's bakery for some snacks.

when you called one of the pastries the best you ever tasted, marinette blushed and became shy, saying it was a new recipe that she made.

her parents were in the kitchen and at the register, introducing themselves and asking you questions leading to mari rushing your little group of the cafe.

after this they take you to more spots around the city, some popular and some they reserved just for them.

the tour ended with them scaling a building, leaving you wondering 1. whay you were doing and 2. how these 2 were so strong ????

at the top, they both helped you onto the roof, maris hand giving you a pleastant chill and adriens a soothing warmth.

once you turned around you couldnt help but let out a breath at the signt of the gorgeous sunset and the skyline, the eiffel tower standing out amongst everything

for a while you sat in silence, until you felt a hand on your shoulder and a soft voice from your right asking, "i hope the silence means you like it, this is me and adriens favorite spot."

you reassure mari that the spot and the sight is beautiful, grateful that they brought you up here.

adrien nudges your shoulder, laying back with his arms propping him up,"dont forget it was my idea to being her here to cheer her up. hey, maybe you'll even start to like the city and convince your parents to stay."

"i think my pastries convinced her, thank you very much."

as the blonde and the bluette playfully bantered back and forth and the city of paris looked back at you, you found yourself with a feeeling of bliss you hadnt felt in a long time.

yeah, i think im gonna like it here.

i wrote this in like 2 hours crazy how if you just tell urself to write itll just happen !?!?! but anyway i hope you guys enjoyed this little thing since i wanted to write more about them after the poly miraculous ideas. i have a ladynoir x reader thing in my drafts that'll hopefully be finished soon <3

#adrien agreste #marinette dupen chang x reader #adrien agreste x reader #poly adrienette #adrienette x reader #miraculous ladybug x reader #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupen chang

695 notes · View notes

gale-gentlepenguin · 11 months

Text

So I know Representation came out today. And any good fan would wait a week before reviewing it as we still have episode 23 to watch.

GOOD THING IM A DEGENERATE

Gale Reviews: ML Season 5 episode 24 Representation

spoilers below

-So as expected, Chloé didnt stay mayor long. But Apparently Ms.Bustier is running for Mayor and might win

-Oh its the Fencing teacher/ guy who was Darkblade. Well clearly Ms.Bustier is going to win

-And Adrien and Kagami are a power couple? But Adrien is watching the news report while they are in London. Something seems VERY off

-Ah, Gabriel is behind it. And Adrien HATES it.

-"By letting your father decide your life and selling your story through a fake narrative as usual." DAMN Plagg holds no punches

-Plagg appologized though.

-Kagami is also pissed about it

-HEY ITS FELIX/ARGOS

-Wait ... is that really my chaotic son? HEARTS ON WINDOWS.

-Thats adorable, WTF

-Okay so THEY got some development.

-Adrien deciding to just say f*** it. He is heading to paris and Telling Marinette he's chat noir!

-Marinette back in paris looks miserable. Poor baby girl. Also its a lovely dress.

-Marinette has been crying. I am going to kill Gabriel

-Marinette being strong for her friends to enjoy this dance. Thats really big of her.

-Unfortunately, Spotlight.

-Wait, how did Argos and Kagami get to Paris BEFORE Astrochat? Unless they left much earlier but even then. My bet is Argos made a sentimonster that would warp them places... but that seems like BS.

-KAGAMI KNOWS MARINETTE IS LADYBUG?! Since perfection. Damn.

-KAGAMI TOLD FELIX!?!?!?! FELIX?!?!?! Okay I am a bit salty about that

-OH S***! THEY KISSED. The Feligami stans are Eating today.

-Felix is dressed like Adrien? Oh I do not like where this seems to be going.

-And Marinette thought she saw Adrien and wants to go after him while her friends are thanking her for everything she's done. Way to ruin a good moment FELIX you ass!

-Side note, WHY is Marinette the only one in a dress? Like its a dance? Why couldnt everyone Have dressed up? Seriously, I know outfit renders are expensive. DID THE KITCHEN COST THAT MUCH?

-Marinette avoiding the Lesbian bee and accidentally interrupting the Bi artist and writer. Sure is Pride month in Paris.

-Okay this is just cruel. Marinette thinks she is having a break down over this. Side note. WHY ISNT ADRIEN ACTUALLY HERE YET? HE IS ASTROCHAT!

-Alya and Nino trying to comfort her. But she aint listening.

-Adrien and Kagami escaped and the parents are pissed

-Oh no Nathalie looks really bad right now. Poor thing. All she can do is watch videos of her true love Emilie

-He took the ring back, guess now that Nathalie is too weak to fight him. Which really brings up the question, WHAT HAPPENED in the last episode that Nathalie took such a turn.

-Gabriel is being a d*** as usual

-Nightormentor sounds like a cool name. And while I thought the color scheme is weird... its probably the best akumatized form Gabriel has taken. Sad but true

-AND OF COURSE RIGHT AS SHE LEAVES ASTROCAT ARRIVES. I know its plot convenience but thats bull s***

-"His father CANT have that much control of him" Oh if only you knew Nino

-And BOOM! Gabriel the bitch agreste arrives

-I am liking Rose so much recently. She is calling out EVERYONE

-So he basically has the powers of Sandboy mixed with Darkerowl

-the guy has the power to make you experience VERY intrusive thoughts. That is evil

-Chat noir is like "Hey ladybug gonna go beat up my father text me later"

-Dude Felix must be an Olympic speed walker

-Marinette is basically being nightormented without that bastard even being here. Felix, Kagami this is just a jerk move.

Duusu: "This is so sad" Felix: "Dont worry its for Our happy ending" Duusu: F*** yea lets keep it up

-Oh he made a sentimonster... wait. I know its not human but like a sentimonster MAKING sentimonsters. Feels even more f***ed up

-THEY ARE DOING A F***ING PLAY FOR HER!?

-OH MY GOSH! ITS THE STORY OF EMILIE AND AMELIE!

-Meanwhile, Chat noir is working through his daddy issues.

-Back to the play

-Oh this is interesting.

-Oh and we find out Felix's dad was a rich Cowboy. But also an asshole. (Oh right, this is a French Cartoon, thats why American's suck in this)

-Back to Adrien fighting his father

-This is Cathartic watching Chat noir beat Gabriel's ASS

-HE WAS GOING TO CATACLYSM HIS DAD! Adrien, my boy. Patricide adrien? Well Monarch is still alive, so I guess you think it wouldnt kill him. BTW, Monarch should have had ptsd from that.

-And Chat noir got hit, so his worst fear is... and cuts back to the play

-Oh the twins were infertile. Emilie returned to try and get medical help but still nothing.

-The peacock, that was the sentimonster reference

-Oh so THATS how Gabriel got Gorilla to guard adrien.

-Also yea, any doubt that they arent sentimonsters is dead now.

-ITS CHAT BLANC WITH BLUE HAIR!?

-Oh s*** that is f***ed up.

-"It will end if you give me your miraculous"

-"Take it." ADRIEN NO!

-Oh so thats why Felix's dad was an a**hole. Okay I will give this credit. That is something.

-Welp this explains why Felix might be a sociopath

-Felix revealing why he did what he did

-THE RESISTANCE! COMING IN CLUTCH

-THE TRAY!

-ALYA JUMPED ON HIS BACK.

-They got the akuma in a jar.

-Wait, Chat noir defeated an akuma without Ladybug. (sure he had outside help, but Ladybug has done that too). Good on him

-WELL S*** THAT WAS TRIPPY.

-Felix and Kagami asked for Marinette's help. so was that all the sentimonster doing so? I am lost

-Okay so, I may not LIKE exactly how they went about it. But I cant really hate them for what they did. They are just kids that want to pick someone they trust.

-Oh s***, Ladybug never cast miraculous cure. So Adrien has some perminant trauma from the fight with Nightormentor. He still sees the antichat visions (its not chat blanc, and its just reverse color pallet)

-Chat noir left. before he could tell her. Cause the nightmare messed with him

-WAIT DID TOMOE AND GABRIEL JUST LOCK THEIR CHILDREN IN STERILE ROOMS? WTF!

_________________________________________________________

Okay! This episode was A LOT.

Well there is no denying Sentimonster theory. Its confirmed. Its done. 100% GUARANTEE NO MONEY BACK.

It did explain a LOT about Felix and Adrien.

So I am still iffy on how it was handled.

Now this DOES NOT justify Felix's Actions. He was still an a**hole. And Kagami shouldnt have told Felix. Marinette is Ladybug. That was NOT her secret to tell.

BUT the play that explained what happened was very well done. It explained a LOT about the Graham de Vanily family and Felix's a**hole father.

I will say that I hated how tortured Marinette was during this. Felix and Kagami could have done something less cruel to lure her there.

I also greatly enjoyed Chat noir vs Nightormentor. very good catharsis and we have Adrien going through some additional mental trauma, inflicted by his father (I wouldnt call it Ironic, more of EXPECTED)

I give it 7.5/10

I will say its the most I have enjoyed the second half of this season since Emotion.

#ml #ml spoilers #gale reviews #miraculous ladybug #ml representation #ml representation spoilers #feligami

115 notes · View notes

mylittle-sunshine · 1 year

Text

Not about Camren or 5h but apparently, I love talking about myself on here lol.

I was raised with Disney Channel. Always watching the Sorcerer of Waverly Place, Hannah Montana and so on and so forth.

At the time, I didn't know how to use a phone or a computer so the only music I was listening to was either my family's or the radio. I even used to say Rihanna was my favourite singer because she sang Stay and Diamonds and I loved those two songs.

Anyway, when I was 8 I had to move from the Freng Riviera to Paris and came back for the first time in 2014 when I was 11 to see my old best friend. Long story short, I found out we weren't best friend anymore because she invited another friend with whom she was more present. BUT, She did make me discover Selena Gomez's album.

I knew she sang thanks to my sister who went to one of her concert in Paris, but I didn't know much about her. Anyway, I fell in love and especially with Stars Dance.

Growing up, I didnt like Justin Bieber because all the girls were drooling over him (and I thought I was straight uh?) And I kinda knew about Jelena but not that much. I didn't know they broke up until I've found out he was engaged with Hailey when I downloaded Tiktok :)

Then I grew up and fell in love with Camila and 5H like I have told you before.

Anyway, team Selena on this one. We don't like bullies here. It doesn't have anything to do with Jelena because I don't know shit about it. It's more because I was a Selenator and from what I have seen, Selena deserves to stay in peace. People have been making fun of her for too long and I'm glad they start to realise that she doesn't deserve it.

Good example of when she was laughed at because the back of her white dress was too high. People were more focused on making fun of her, filming than helping her out and that is disgusting.

She took some weight because she is sick and people body shamed her for it. And even though it weren't because of it, no one deserves to be body shamed because their body, THEIR CHOICE. And as we saw here, sometimes we don't chose to be fat, if we could I promise that I would have been like Gigi Hadid for some time now.

People started to say things when her documentary came out to and no matter what she does, people have to talk about Justin as if she were just Justin's ex when she was someone BEFORE him and AFTER, and she has her own life.

Same thing for camren and 5H here actually, they are more than just Camila's ex bandmate or whatever. Here we do talk a lot about camren but hopefully, we don't talk to the girls about the other one or anything because we know that they are More than that.

I don't tolerate the bullying against Hailey Bieber either because she is still a human being, but yeah, team Selena.

#fifth harmony #lauren jauregui #camila cabello #normani #ally brooke #dinah jane #ot5 #french #selena gomez

4 notes · View notes

spicy-tomato · 3 years

Note

Can i pls req dream being reader's sugar daddy :O - 🌼

sorry this took a hot sec ive been working on this one for a while cause i really liked the idea, so here you go :)) it ended up being like 2k words so im sorry

You had it all, anything you could want and more. Wanted to go to rome? Done, your plane leaves tomorrow. Dream absolutely spoiled you and you couldnt be more happy about it. It started off as a thing to help you with rent, but the longer you did it the more you enjoyed being able to get what you wanted when you wanted. Today was your weekly lunch with dream, you had both agreed that at least once a week he would take time off to get lunch with you, it made you smile to see him take time for you. As the tease you were, you decided to wear something a little revealing to tease him since he had cancelled your shopping trip with him the day before. You put on a low cut crop top and some shorts that show a little too much before fixing your hair. You hear you phone ding, getting a text from dream,

Daddy dream <3

Hey baby, i'm out front whenever youre ready to go

You smile and put your phone in your pocket before walking out to his car and getting in. you kiss his cheek quickly “hi daddy” you giggle and smile at him

“Hi sweetheart” he looks you up and down before smirking “like the outfit, all for me?” you giggle and nod before he starts to drive to the restaurant, one hand on your thigh. “Do you know what you want? You know the rule, anything you want no matter the price. And after that we can go shopping to make up for my cancelling yesterday.” you smile at him

“I know, and we dont have to dream, we can just hang out. Its been a while since we did that. Maybe we can go somewhere for you to make it up to me instead” he smiles and squeezes your thigh as he pulls into the parking lot of the restaurant.

“Anywhere you want baby, only the best for you.” you look down and blush, moving over to lean your head on his shoulder as he moves a hand to pet your hair. “Ill take you anywhere anytime and get you anything you want.” you cant lie, at times you had thought about being more than just his sugar baby, having a real romantic relationship, but he was always so busy that it made it seem almost impossible. Sure he took time out to be with you but it was never a lot unless you were traveling. He didnt tell you a lot about his job either, just knew that he had a large following and that he didnt want anything serious and put his partner in a bad situation, but damn if you havent thought about him coming home to you and calling you his.

“Baby? You okay? You zoned out.” he waves a hand in front of your face and you blink back to reality.

“Yeah, sorry i just got a little distracted. Lets go get some food!” you pull away from him and he gets out, walking around to open your door for you and holds a hand out to help you. “Thank you” you smile and take his hand as you step out, he closes the door behind you and puts an arm around your waist, pulling you into his side as you both walk up to get a table. You get seated immediately and he pulls your chair out for you. “Is there a single flaw with you?” you ask genuinely, he just laughs and shakes his head.

“Theres a bunch you dont know about me, sweetheart.” you roll your eyes as the waitress comes back with your mimosa and his water, asking for your orders. He orders for you and him before she walks off to put them in. He always knows what you want and orders it for you. It makes you smile that he likes to take care of you. You shake that thought away and go back to mindlessly talking with him, waiting on the food. It comes shortly and you both start to eat. “Where do you want to go? Japan? Italy? Oh we havent been to paris in a while, maybe there.”

“I think paris would be great, its always so pretty this time of year, maybe we can have dinner on the eiffel tower again!” your eyes light up at the thought of going back to paris. Last time you went was last spring, you both walked around and had the most wonderful time people watching and shopping. You take another bite and he looks like hes about to say something before he stops himself and looks down. “What is it? Is something wrong?” you look at him concerned, scared you messed something up.

“Its nothing darling, dont worry.” you both finish up lunch and he pays before helping you up and leading you back to the car. “I have something id like to ask you when we get to paris if thats okay, its nothing bad i promise its just something ive been meaning to ask for a while is all.” you nod as he opens the door for you and helps you in. “now, a pretty girl like you needs pretty new clothes for the trip, lets go get you some.” he smiles at you as he gets in, resting a hand back on your thigh as he starts the car, leading you both to the mall.

You spend hours in there going to different stores and trying things on, him getting you whatever you wanted without any hesitation. You walk back to the car with armfulls of bags and a couple new suitcases. “Thank you so much daddy, youre the best.” you kiss his cheek and he turns a little red.

“Its no problem baby, why dont you stay over tonight and we can leave in the morning to head to the airport. I can help you pack and we can watch a movie.” you smiles and nod, putting your bags in the back of the car and your new suitcases in the trunk.

“Id like that…” you think for a second about how nice it would be to wake up next to him every day and how nice it is to fall asleep next to him when it happens, even if when you did wake up after he wasnt next to you. The cold bed always made you remember that you would never be more than this, not that this was bad in the least its just sometimes you wish you could be more. He drives you both back to his apartment building and helps you out, grabbing most of your bags, only leaving you to grab the suitcases as you enter the building. He lived on the top floor in the penthouse, expected for how much money he had. You set your stuff down in his room, your new clothes already laid out nicely thanks to him. He walks up behind you and hugs you from behind.

“Youll look so good in all of those baby, gonna be the prettiest one in paris.” he kisses your neck softly before pulling away and taking your hand, leading you to sit on the part of the bed not covered by clothes. “Let me go run you a bath and you can pick out a movie.” you nod and he walks to the bathroom, leaving you alone on the bed. You turn on the tv and start scrolling through netflix looking for a movie, finally deciding as he walks back in and picks you up. You giggle and wrap your arms around his neck, moving your head to rest on his chest as he carries you to the bathroom. He sets you on the counter and takes your shirt off carefully, leaving kisses down your neck and chest and he moves down to take your shorts off. You lift yourself gently to help him take your shorts off. He takes them off quickly before nipping and kissing your inner thighs, ghosting over your core. You whine and try to move closer to him before he presses your hips down into the counter.

“Stay still baby, dont wanna have to punish you. Daddy just wants his desert.” you nod quickly and stay still, his head diving to softly kiss your clit, causing you to whine. He chuckles and starts to slowly eat you out, almost at a teasing pace. You whine and grip the counter, trying to keep from pulling his hair. He pulls away and smiles, “good girl, being so good and not pulling my hair. Just letting daddy eat you up.” after he says that his hands move down to your thighs open as he starts to eat you out like a man starved. You let out a loud moan and throw your head back, your hands moving to his hair and tugging closer. At this point he didnt care about you pulling his hair, to blissed out by hearing your sweet moans and tasting you. Your cries became louder as he dragged you closer to the edge. as you were almost there he stopped, causing a loud whine from you as he moves up to face you. He looked like heaven like this, face covered in your slick with eyes dark from lust.

“Now my good little girl, i want you to get off the counter and bend over for daddy.” you quickly move off the counter and do as your told. “Such a perfect little girl, i want you to watch as i make you feel good, got it? You look away and i stop,” he chuckles and grabs your neck after you nod. His hand moves from your neck to your hair to hold you in place, making eye contact with him through the mirror.

“Such a precious little pet for me, arent you?” you whine as he lines up with your entrance, teasing you, causing you to press your hips back against him. He smacks your ass roughly and pulls you against his chest by your hair. “Thats not very nice bun, its almost like you want me to leave you all worked up.’’ he smirks at you before pulling you roughly back against him, ripping a scream from your throat. He sets a brutal pace, leaving no time for you to adjust to him. He keeps the pace, your legs starting to shake as he brings you back to the edge of your orgasm before quickly throwing you over it. You let out a cry of his name, trails of tears starting to run from your eyes as he keeps going.

“Pretty little bunny, always so good and tight for me. Gonna breed you so good. Fuck you until i know it takes.” he tugs your hair roughly and starts to bite and suck at your neck, leaving marks in his wake. You whine and cry, moving your hands to tug at his hair. “So close princess, gonna fill you up so good.” he moves a hand to your clit to punctuate his statement, causing a louder cry to come from you as you tip over the edge once again. His hips start to stutter as he fills you up, riding out his high with shallow thrusts letting out a few more quiet moans before pulling out of you carefully. You whine and tug at his hair as he does so. He picks you up carefully as he pulls away.

“i figured we could take a bath and then cuddle before we pack and figure out what time we should leave for the airport.” you nod and he carries you carefully over to the tub, setting you down carefully in it before getting and sitting behind you. He starts to wash your hair as you slowly drift off to sleep. You wake up briefly as he lifts you from the tub and carries you to the bed. He moves the blankets back and sets you down gently before crawling in next to you , pulling the blankets back over you.

“Be my partner,” he says as you turn towards him

“Only if we can still go to paris” you giggle and he nods, kissing the top of your head before you both drift off.

#dream smp x reader smut #dreamwastaken smut #dreamwastaken #dreamwastaken x reader #dream smp x reader #dream x reader smut #dreamwastaken x reader smut #dream x reader #dream smut #dream smp #dsmp smut #mcyt x reader smut #mcyt smut

660 notes · View notes

familyagrestefanblog · 3 years

Text

Theory for “Gabriel Agreste”

Saying that I'm EXCITED for this episode is an understatement, I'm THRILLED! So let me give you my speculation for what could happen in it and how it’ll affect the future, because pieces are literally just falling into place in my brain and I just have to write this down.

The episode is called" Gabriel agreste" because in this episode Gabriel will create a (long time) Sentimonster for himself that'll take his place and cover for him in his civilian life while he himself gets completely swallowed by his Hawkmoth/ShadowMoth identity (which is a direct paralell to the fate Marinette just escaped by telling Alya her secret). He doesn't want to "waste" anymore unnecessary time by having to NOT be Hawkmoth, which then completely separates him from Adrien who very much was one of the last (if not THE LAST at this point) few strings that kept him grounded in his humanity.

The episode takes place right before the middle of the season and since it's season 4 we are talking about here its fair to assume that both Adrien and Gabriel are back at (at least) suspecting each other to be Chat Noir and Hawkmoth again at some point. Adrien is going to be even more rebellious after the status quo break and set up of "Lies" so him maybe (or maybe even confirmed already to Gabriel) to be Chat Noir could definitely be the factor that sets Gabriel over the edge, rips these two apart for good (as I foresaw in my analysis of "Jackady") and brings Gabriel to distance himself altogether while covering his own identity from his son by creating a Sentimonster (bc Adriens secret being discovered by his evil family is already forshadowed to hell and back, just like him ending up getting Homeschooled again this season, mark my words)

---

"Queen Banana" is supposed to take place right before "Gabriel Agreste" and we have a leak where it's seen that Adrien is now kinda taking on Nathalies role since she is (supposedly) still bed ridden.

Seriously, just humour me here and stay with me. This would mean that Adrien would get to see and interact with his father much more often and Gabriel wouldn't be able to ditch everything and turn into Hawkmoth as easily as he was able to with Nathalie.

A cover up Sentimonster was actually already kinda forshadowed in "Party Crasher"

by introducing HoloGabe with the intention of providing Gabriel with alibis and to attend meetings etc for him in the future so Gabriel can invest more time into being Hawkmoth. But a Hologramm is not suitable for every occasion, which is where the Sentimonster comes into play.

At first Adrien wouldn't notice much off about his father and the few things he notices Adrien actually doesnt mind. If SentiGabe is really supposed to replace Gabriel as... Well, Gabriel, that also means as a FATHER and my money is on SentiGabe being created to be a better father than the original. SentiGabe does everything Adrien wanted his father to do in s1-s3: Join Adrien at dinner time, spend more time with him, is in general in better of a mood and not such an unpleasant dick and so on and so on.

Easy to say, Adrien basically welcomes the good change he always wanted in his "Father" with open arms and chooses to ignore things that seem suspicious and the always remaining gut feeling of something just being... off. This will collide with the unveiling of more of the family (+ Emilie) mystery which will for Adrien all continue to point at Gabriel as Hawkmoth because of one event that is likely to happen in episode 4.

I'm currently writing on yet another post about this topic in particular, so I will link it HERE for elaboration once I post it, but in short, I think Rena Rouge and the Grimoire secrets Marinette shears with Alya could be the catalyst of Adrien suspecting his father to be Hawkmoth again.

Adriens memories of the time he went through the Grimoire himself in "Volpina" would be triggered again after seing the Grimoire page Rena (honestly, quite recklessly) brings along into battle and from then on things will slowly pile up until Gabriel deflects from himself with SentiGabe in "Gabriel Agreste" (just like he did in “The Collector”)

People WAY to easily forget how ready and serious Adrien was in "The Collector" when he actually concidered his father to be Hawkmoth.

Keep in mind that Ladybug was only able to tell Chat Noir the weakest reasons of her suspicion against Gabriel (while the Grimoire being Guardian property was NEVER found out by Adrien... til NOW) that being Gabriels mysterious personality and the butterfly logo of his brand.

These arguments are weak because they are ONLY actually suspicious in the specific context of Gabriel being Hawkmoth. Once you have proof against that they hardly hold any ground anymore, hence why both Adrien AND Marinette so easily brushed off these points after seeing Gabriel akumatized. I mean, excuse a designer for choosing a BUTTERFLY as his logo when his last name is literally the name of a butterfly type. The fuck kind of accusation is that??

So I hope you understand that when I say that, yes, these reasons DID trigger further memories/realizations for Adrien in that moment

It simply was only the tip of the iceberg.

The fact that Adrien not only gave Ladybug the fucking benefit of a doubt and heared her out about accusing his FATHER of being HAWKMOTH and took it THAT seriously and wanted to find out if his father truly IS Hawkmoth means that Adrien very much sees his father as capable of being Paris villain Nr 1. This... understanding and acceptance of Gabriels nature already had to be in Adrien much prior to "the collector" to set it off like this. And while normally Adrien chooses to turn a blind eye towards his fathers bad qualities in favor of seeing Gabriels redeeming (and even the rare somewhat GOOD) qualities, Adrien only does so because he thinks Gabriel hasn't crossed the line yet that makes his father undeserving of these loving conciderations. But Gabriel being Hawkmoth IS CROSSING that line for Adrien and he immediately sets aside his remaining/choosen love for his heavily flawed father and willingly sees Gabriel for what he is.

Adrien already did it once with only a few somewhat solid reasons and the Grimoire being kept secret from him altogether,

So he will do it again, just this time the proofs and developments are supposed to stay for good.

---

This development would not only be forshadowed by "the collector"

But also by the episode "Ladybug". There Mayura used a Sentimonster version of Ladybug against Chat Noir, using their love against him. What she didn't know though was that Ladybug actually isn't in love with her partner (yet) which ended up with Chat Noir being put in the situation of having to decide which Ladybug he believes to be real.

Does he believe and hold onto Sentibug who returns the love he so desperately seeks in life or does he let go of his hopeful wish and accept the heartbreaking reality of once again not receiving his love in return from yet another person he holds so dear?

In "Ladybug" Adrien couldn't make that crushing decision yet (and don't clown in the replies about this, not only was the situation vastly different it's also a cruel thing to ask of Adrien) but as we are used from Miraculous by now, that episode was only the set up for future events.

What Adrien couldn't let himself believe about Ladybug and Sentibug he will have to FORCE himself to accept about his Father and Hawkmoth. Same set-up of the Sentimonster symbolising Adriens desperate and hopeful WISH what his loved one were vs the crushing, heart wrenching reality of what his loved ones actually ARE. Just that letting go of his wish for Ladybugs love didnt seem "necessary enough" for the mission to succeed so he just couldn't MAKE himself give her up whereas accepting and seeing that his father is Hawkmoth is going to be one of the most crucial sacrifices of the show, changing the game forever. So as horrible, cruel and soul shattering as this is, putting an end to his fathers villainous reign for the sake of the greater good is a reason worthy enough to force himself through his pain.Which brings us once again back to “The collector” (which seriously forshadows almost everything I love that episode), because there is ONE major aspect that episodes sets up like crazy

And that is:

And thats where we are heading now.

This entire time Adrien wanted his Father to behave more fatherly, spend more time with him and improve his explosive behavior but he always got disappointed over and over again. So how heartbreaking would it be if over the course of the second half of the season THIS would be the very reason why Adrien gets behind Gabriels secret? Because SentiGabe behaved too fatherly for Adrien to truly buy it in his heart and when forced to decide what he actually believes his father to be - like the fatherly Sentimonster or the villainous Hawkmoth - Adrien has to and WILL recognize and accept his fathers true nature and turn against him, as it has been set up for a LONG time now.

This season shit’s about to go DOWN!

#Miraculous #Miraculous Ladybug #Ml spoilers #Ml Theory #Ml season 4 #Episode: Gabriel Agreste #Adrien Agreste #Chat Noir #Gabriel Agreste #Hawkmoth #Agreste family drama #or tragedy #thats more like it #SentiGabe #I am so EXCITED for this episode!!!#Ml analysis

586 notes · View notes

hauntedbythefanficsofmypast · 4 years

Text

Involves following Fandoms

1. Miraculous Ladybug

2. Percy Jackson

3. Harry Potter

4. Batman/Justice/DC

• Percy, Harry, and Marinette have been internet friends since Mari first received her miraculous.

• The boys are one year older than Mari. So they were 14 and she was 13. So start of Titans Curse, and the Goblet of Fire. This is set during the summer. Before Percy heads for camp, he convinced one of the Hephaestus kids to make him a phone to keep in contact. When Harry returns to school he finds the room of requirements amd finds out his laptop works in there.

• They meet on Mari's vlog where she is complaining about how the adults in her life always let her down.

• Harry agrees whole heartedly Percy says the only person that doesnt let him down is his mom.

• Soon they are best friends and always in contact with they others, Sally and Paul meet them after summer is over and gain two more kids.

• They all tell each other their secrets and try to help each other the best they can.

• They become Instagram famous together and are seen as a trio always posting screen shots of them video chatting.

• Percy and Mari are helping and supporting Harry through everything that happens while he is at Hogwarts.

• Around this time Lila comes into the picture, at first the boys encourage her to fight back. However after she sends them screenshots from her 'friends' they encourage her to drop them all together.

• Mari distances herself from the class and focuses on learning more from Master Fu, while also growing her clientele. She goes from Jagged and Clara, to multiple celebrities from all over. She even designs for some youtubers. She meets the Wayne's when they commission her for one of their galas. She hits it off with Tim when she chugs a pot of coffee infront of him before doing his final fitting.

• Percy takes a quick trip to Gotham once the Wayne's return and interrogates/threatens Tim about Mari.

• Mari and Tim's friendship continues to grow as they text and call all the time.

• Harry and Percy support Marinette when she becomes the Grand Guardian. Percy asks Chiron about the Miraculous and discovers multiple books on them. He convinces Annabeth to copy them and has Hermes send them to Mari. While Harry finds a former Guardian in Knockturn Alley and informs her of the new Grand Guardian he gets Mari the potions she needs for the Kwami.

• Percy and Mari in courage Harry to discover more about his family and to start at Gringotts. Harry discovers his families position in the wizarding word, and how much has been kept from him.

• Harry and Mari encourage Percy to learn even more about his powers. Soon he has control of small storms and has learned how to travel in an instant through mist.

• Harry becomes emancipated at 15 and takes over Lordship of Potter and Ravenclaw. He was surprised to find out his mother was actually adopted into the Evan's family after her parents were killed. Petunia didnt know she was adopted.

• After Kronos is defeated they make plans to finally meet up, boys are 16, Mari 15, they agree on Paris because Mari doesn't feel comfortable leaving her city in case of attack. They meet up a few weeks before school is set to start for Percy and Mari.

• Harry floos to his family home in Paris and opens the wards before messaging Percy saying it safe. Percy mist travels in to his house and immediately drops his bags hugging Harry tightly. Before they both hurry off to the Bakery.

• Mari's parents are very nice and loving but they expect their daughter to be an adult and handle things without them.

• They are surprised when two boys rush into the bakery and their daughter squeals throwing herself at them in a hug. Completely ignoring Alya, Adrien, and Nino.

• Mari completely ignores her old friends refusing to even let go of her boys. She quickly introduces them to her parents before dragging them up to her room.

• For a short while they just pile on to her bed cuddling together happy to be with each other in person than through a video call. After half an hour they finally get up and let Mari pack a small bag.

• She says goodbye to her parents telling them shes going to be spending the night at a friends before they all hurry to Harry's house. Once Mari puts her bag in the living room they change into fancy clothes and head off for dinner reservations at Le Grand Paris.

• They enjoy a quiet dinner together and while they're eating dessert Chloe comes to their table to say hello to Mari. She warns Mari that their class plans on ambushing her at her parents bakery to guilt her into catering their end of summer party, because Lila's baker fell through.

• All four of them laugh at it and Mari pulls out her phone sending her mother a quick message. Telling her to not give her class a thing unless they pay.

• After Harry pays much to Mari and Percy's annoyance they say goodbye to Chloe and leave the restaurant. While walking back to Harry's they are all hugging each other. Mari is in the middle and Percy and Harry's arms are around her wasit and she has hers around them. Lila sees them passing and is quick to take multiple pictures.

• The next day she has the entire class convinced that the three are in a relationship. Lila also convinces them that Mari pushed her down and the boys threatened her.

• Alya is akumatized through her anger, Paris is surprised when two new heros join Ladybug.

• The two new heros are Anaklusmos, Percy using Kaalki because once Kaalki saw Percy he knew that he was the son of his favorite God, and Chimaera. Harry using Ziggy.

• Percy's hero outfit consisted of tight black pants and a long sleeve black shirt. Underneath a dark brown breastplate and greaves. His hair was slightly longer and even wilder than usual and sunglasses hid his eyes from the world. His weapon is a sword.

• Harry's hero outfit was black and white. He wore a white sweater with black assents, black jeans, and the outer coat to battle robes that was black on the outside and white on the inside. He has a mask in which one side is black and the other white. His miraculous transform into small goat horns when in use. His weapon is a staff, because he is a wizard he is able to use the staff as a wand, and it is untraceable.

• Ziggys transformation phrase Ziggy lets climb. Ziggy lets rest.

• Kaalkis transformation phrase Kaalki lets gallop. Kaalki halt.

• Ziggy will be the miraculous of terrian. Harry will be able to use unbreakable vines to either hold akuma or stop larging things from falling.

• They are quick to defeat Alya taking her down before Chat even finds a place to transform.

• Once defeated the trio returns to where they were relaxing along the Seine. Both Mari and Percy giggle at Harry who readjusts his new hair clips blushing slightly. While Percy simply pushes the glasses up to rest on the top of his head.

• They get lunch before Percy mist travels all three of them to Disneyland, where Mari pays for them all to get in.

• There first picture together at Disney is post on each of their Instagrams and their fans go wild after realizing the trio finally met in person. Soon their Instas are filled with different pictures of all of them.

• Meanwhile Alya is blowing up Mari's Insta demanding answers as the class is on the way to the bakery. They try to convince Tom and Sabine to cater but are brushed off by them. The class is upset and demands answers and are not happy to be told that they wont cater because Marinette isn't going to the party and asked them not to.

• The trio finish the night with a picture of them hugging with fireworks in the back. Percy is wearing little mermaid ears, Mari is wearing Ladybug ears, and Harry is wearing sorcerer mickey ears.

• They spend the entire week together and Mari introduces them to her friends in Paris with a promise of coming to their home countries to meet their friends and family next time.

• When Percy and Harry are set to leave they have a long conversation with Kaalki and Ziggy and decide to allow the two Kwamis to stay with their holders. Kaalki is very attached to his new foal and wishes to remain with his chosen. Ziggy is also attached to her kid and wishes to help Harry in anyway possible. Percy and Harry not just swear to protect their Kwamis, they agree to start a new Order of the Guardians. Mari agrees and soon they are planning lessons so she can teach them the language of the Guardians.

• When Harry returns to England he seeks out the former Guardian and infroms her they are starting a new order. The former Guardian takes Harry under her wing and teaches him things, which he teqches Percy and Mari inturn.

• The trio is happy until one day when instead of Percy answering the call its a crying Sally. Sally explains that Percy went missing and no one was able to find him. On top of that Olympus is on lock down.

• Mari and Harry go months without a word from Percy and everyone around them notices their drop. Tim flies out to Paris more often just to keep Mari company when he can. While Harry closes himself off from everyone but Mari.

• A full year passes and in that time Mari has stripped Chat of his miraculous and found a temporary holder in her friend Marc. Harry watched Dumbledore die and is getting ready to fall into hiding, when they finally hear from Percy who had just won his second war.

• The entire time Percy is asleep Kaalki is protecting him and when he wakes up Kaalki informs him of his name and tells him some of his past. Kaalki doesnt have to stay hidden around the demigods because Kaalki is a god himself and the demigods know this. Many Romans are surprised to see Kaalki never leaves Percy's side.

• At first Percy wants to immediately alert his friends but he can barelt find the time and o ly managers to tell his mother that he is alright.

• When the war is over he wastes no time traveling to England and tackling Harry in a hug before taking both of them to Paris. He leaves so fast her doesnt even return to Olympus for the rewards. So in the middle of their hugs and tears Zues/Jupiter transports them to Olympus. Right after he has to deal with a very pissed of Kwami of creation. Everyone watches Tikki tear into Zues while Mari Harry and Percy simply sit in front of Posiden's throne hugging each other tightly.

• For Percy's wish he once again turns down godhood and requests that the roman and greek camps to work together, and makes a personal request to Hecate for both he and Mari to be given Magic. Hecate agrees under the condition that Percy helps Harry take down Tom Riddle and that Mari helps once she is done with Hawkmoth. Posiden pulls them aside and informs Mari that Gabriel is Hawkmoth Nathalie is Mayrua. Once they are done Percy introduces Mari and Harry to the 7 and his cousins before they head off to meet Sally and Paul in person.

• After meeting Sally all three head to Gotham and meet with the Waynes and Mari and the boys find it funny that the only people that knew of Mari and Tim were Bruce and Alfred.

• Mari tells Tim the complete truth and how within the next few months she may die. Tim takes it and in turn tells her about him being Red Robin, then asks her to marry him. She agrees and they have a wedding at Wayne manor the next day.

• Harry meets Kara and his attention is stolen by the blonde. They gets along amazingly and exchange phone numbers. Harry even introduces her to Ziggy who also likes Kara. What really causes Harry to fall for her is when she wraps her arms around his waist and flies up into the air. Both of them bonding over their love of flying while Harry tries to stop out his blush over he lifting him like it was nothing.

• Percy returns to England with Harry and they go in the hunt together while Mari takes a final stance against Hawkmoth.

• Mari defeats Hawkmoth and Mayura unmasking them on national tv right before the battle of hogwarts happens. Once she is done she infroms her parents that she finished her last year of Lycée online and was traveling to England.

• Mari arrives in England after Percy and Harry sneak into Hogwarts. With the help of Tikki she finds her way to Hogwarts and finds her boys.

• Mari is heartbroken when Harry says goodbye to Ziggy and places one hair clip in Maris hair and the other in Percys. He tells them how much he loved them and asked them to say goodbye to Kara for him.

• Percy forces himself to stay strong but breaks when he sees Hagrid carrying Harry's body. While Harry jumps up both Mari and Percy are crying as they fight harder.

• The next day on the front page of the Prophet theres a picture of the three of them in the great hall after the battle curled together and hugging each other.

• After the war the trio goes to Gringotts and Harry has Percy and Mari officially adopted into the potter family before they return to Gotham. Mari and Tim had a bigger wedding for the public announcing to Gotham that they were married. It became known as the wedding of the century because both of them wanted to keep the Wayne families persona. Marinette drops Dupain-Cheng and becomes Marinette Potter-Drake-Wayne.

• Percy walks her down the aisle before sitting down and Harry is standing as her 'maid of honor' Percy takes Annabeth as his date and Harry takes Kara.

• After their honeymoon traveling the world Percy and Harry reveal that they both moved to Gotham. Both are going to catch up on their school work and then go to college. Meanwhile Percy begins campaigning for a cleaner Gotham. He uses a Sanddollar to clean the waters and instructed the Water nymphs to immediately alert him if someone attempts to dump. That when Gotham gains a new hero Anaklusmos. A few months later Chimaera and Ladybird join the scene as well. They focus more on the petty crimes and keeping the city cleaner while the Bat fam focus on the really bad guys.

• Mari joins with Wayne Enterprises and grows her own Fashion empire, while Percy gets his degree in marine biology and Harry in teaching.

• A few years later Mari has all but forgotten about her old class until she takes a trip to Pairs with time to visit her parents and Chloe and they find a class reunion at Le Grand Paris. Lila and Alya try and put Mari down, and are surprised when she laughs. She kisses Tim cheek softly before turning to them, and introduces herself and Tim. Leaving the entire class in shock. They watch Mari walking away with Tim as Chloe walks through the doors to them a bounce in her step.

#ml salt fic #ml x dc #lila salt #alya+salt #batfam #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #harry potter #marinette dupen chang #miraculous marinette #miraculous ladybug #batman #maribat #timmari #the lightning thief

855 notes · View notes

iamdunn · 3 years

Text

Miraculous Flash Forward part 3: Laoshi Mao

A Miraculous Fan-Fic

Written by

AJ Dunn

It had been two years now since Adrien moved to Shanghai. At first, time seemed to go by so slowly as he was waisted his days at home and went out at night to train. However, after the first few months, he began going insane. He decided to sit and watch Chao Sifu as he taught the younger kids the same exercises he was mastering at night. He held several classes throughout the day, some for the smaller children, and others for the more advanced kids. However, he never saw groups of adults.

“You might as well change your clothes young Adrien, and join me.” Chao Sifu said without missing a single movement. They were practicing outside under the blossoms of the over-hanging trees. Adrien nodded and jogged off to change his clothes, he left them here so he didn’t have to carry a bag around town. He returned to the group and Sifu motioned for him to take the lead in front of the kids. He knew the exercises well and began right where Sifu left off. He watched the kids’ faces and they moved in sync with him. He never realized how much fun it would be to participate in a group activity like this. He once gave his Chinese class lessons in fencing and vise versa, but this was something else. They looked to him as if he were the Sifu. His heart was thrilled.

Sifu walked around the group inspecting the movements of the children and corrected the ones who were out of step. Adrien began showing up every day at the same time and spending almost the entire day either leading the class or walking around helping the kids who had more trouble. He especially loved working with the smallest of the children. One of which, a little girl, reminded him a lot of a younger Marinette. She was even just as clumsy. Sifu didn’t have patience for her so Adrien would have her step out of the group and he would practice solo with her several feet away from the rest of the group so that if she did fall, he would be the only one she’d trip on.

The days began to go by faster as Adrien took up more chores at the temple including cleaning. After two years, Sifu allowed him to take on more chores and even lead a couple of classes on his own. Sifu seemed to be tiring of the physical labor as his body began to give out. Adrien was still a silent partner in the Graham de Vanily company and even insisted that he receives reports regarding new designs before they were approved. Many new talented designers were beginning to blossom under the new brand of the company, but he wondered why Felix never offered Marinette a position despite her many successful designs that were sponsored by the company.

“She keeps refusing,” Felix answered as they spoke on the phone. “I even went personally to her apartment to offer her a full position.”

“You went to her apartment?” Adrien felt prickles in his skin. “Where does she live, who does she live with?”

“Wo wo slow down lover boy. If you want those details call her yourself.” Felix was irritated with Adrien’s jealousy but he went out of his way to antagonize it knowing how much it affected him. “Look, I understand why you can’t be here, but she can’t.”

“I know I know.” Adrien sighed

“You don’t get it,” Felix’s frustrations could be clearly heard. “You’re the reason she keeps turning me down.”

“Turning you down?” Adrien began to fume.

“For the job offer,” Felix wasn’t playing now. “It’s not like I brought her roses and offered her my hand. Get control of your emotions.”

“You’re right cousin.” Adrien sighed dropping heavily onto the couch. “I have been keeping my mind occupied with things here so I don’t think about everyone there.”

“How’s that working out for you?” Felix sounded concerned. “Are you accomplishing what you went there to do?”

“Yeah, I think I am. I am teaching children martial arts now and, I can cook pretty much any Chinese dish you could order at a restaurant.” He laughed.

“So… are you thinking about teaching children when you return?” Felix asked skeptically.

“Why not, I used to be the best fencer in my class and even gave lessons to some of the least talented students I met.” He remembered the time Marinette tried out. He laughed again. She wasn’t bad for being such a klutz. “I have to go now though, it’s time to meet up with the Sifu for dinner. He clicked the phone off and was about to stand when his phone rang. It was Cheng Sifu.

“I don’t need that nightly order you always deliver each night,” he said swiftly. A nervous tone in his voice.

“Is everything alright Sifu?” Adrien wondered if he should use Plagg to get there quickly despite the sun still being up.

“No no, don’t come everything is okay, I just have family in from out of town.” Adrien’s breath froze in his lungs. He could hear laughter coming from the other end of the line. He knew there would always be a chance of Marinette and her parents visiting, Cheng was her great uncle. Adrien sulked as he set the phone back down. He stood up as if his body moved him. His thoughts weren’t his own as he stormed out of the apartment. Plagg zipped quickly so he wound’t be left behind. Even on the metro, he couldn’t sort his thoughts. What was he doing. He was going to see her. What if she saw him? How could he explain, he had been gone for 4 years now, with no contact with any of them. What would she say? How could he face her after what his father did to her, to all of them. Marinette had been the only one out of their entire class, and well school to not have been akumatized.

He couldn’t stop his thought process even as he got off the bus by the market. He lifted his hoodie over his head wondering if it would be better to dawn his ‘other’ hoodie. So far Cat Noir, had not been seen in Shanghai, not since his first night here. Even Hei Mao was a blur in the night. Despite the fact his new costume was an exact replica of hers, he could always pass it off as someone playing dress up. But an adult? In Shanghai, in broad daylight with no festival or events taking place? Adrien stopped outside the restaurant. He spied the very back table, the one Cheng Sifu reserved for his family and special guests. He could see her laughing along with his mother and father. Her long midnight hair hung loose below her shoulders, her smile radiated as her eyes gleamed from the joy.

Adrien couldn’t move as he stood frozen. He saw her look up as if she could sense someone watching him. He dropped to the ground. Toying with his shoe laces so as to not look suspicious to the passerbys. Was it safe to stand up? Did she see him? He slowly stood not looking into the window, but just as his eyes rose over the window sill he could see what she had been looking at. It was Fie, a friend they had made here when she had by chance visited her uncle for the first time and gotten lost.

Adrien sighed and took his leave. What had he been thinking? Toying with disaster. He couldn’t bare to feel the shame his father placed upon him. He was glad that at least Marinette had escaped the fate of becoming evil, she was far too good for that. But the horror of watching everyone you care about wreak havok on Paris, not to mention on the various places they had traveled abroad. Even here in Shanhai.

Adrien had made his way back to the temple. He couldn’t find Chao Sifu anywhere. He slipped his sneakers off and slipped through the living areas searching for him. Finally he sat on the floor outside his masters bedroom and knocked on the door. He could hear a low muffled voice.

“Come in Adrien.” the voice was raspy and harsh. He slid the door open and crawled inside closing the door behind him. Chao layed on his futon. He was pale and weak. A woman came from the bathroom placing a cold rag on his head. “You won’t be trained by me any longer young Adrien.” He coughed into his napkin. Adrien could see the red.

“He won’t make it through the night.” the woman said then left the room.

“I am far too old for this world.” Chao said. “I am over 300 years old now.” the shock wore on his shoulders. He was even older than Master Fu.

“How long do guardians live?” Adrien asked quietly “Master Fu was nearly 200 before he surrendered the miracle box.” they hadn’t ever talked about the miracle box or who had it. All Adrien knew was that Ladybug had it and he didnt know who she was.

“Fu?” Chao said. “He was but a child when the temple disappeared,” he coughed again. “Being bound to a Kwami box preserves our life span, but we slowly fade after we relinquish it.” He hadn’t seen Master Fu since he had been akumatized, which came after he had handed over the miracle box and lost his memory of it.

“Chao Sifu? how do you have memory of these things if you relinquished your box”

“I was a grand master, I governed them all!” he hacked and turned on his side away from Adrien. “When the temple was restored, I sent the guardians out to find the missing boxes and any holders who may have passed along their miraculous’” more hacking.

Adrien wanted to know more about the order of the miraculous but he knew, now was not the right time for that. He would sit with Chao through the night.

The dawn came as Adrien saw cross legged on the floor beside the futon. He had been meditating all night. He felt the fatigue as his eyes slid open welcoming the sun. He saw the Sifu looking up at him. A haze growing over his eyes.

“There is nothing more I can teach you.” the voice was small but understood. “You came to me a Xuesheng, and now I leave you, Laishi Mao.” His eyes drifted closed as his body went limp. Adrien swallowed hard in his throat as he continued to sit there unable to move. The woman came in a few minutes later.

“He is gone.” Adrien whispered barely able to breath, his heart heavy with hurt. He wanted to cry, he wanted to be held tightly as he cried. He suddenly missed his partner. Despite her lack of reciprocated feelings, he missed her the most right now. Her arms were always available to him when he needed her the most. But he knew, he had abandoned her. Tears began to well up in his eyes as the woman covered his face with the blanket. Adrien stood up and left the room.

Back at his apartment Adrien was silent as he moved about the apartment. Classes would be canceled today. He went to the bathroom and took a shower. Marinette was in town, and his Sifu was gone. He dialed up Cheng Sifu.

“I uh, I need to see you.” he choked. Standing in the seating area, a towel wrapped around his waist. “Today.”

“I will come see you.” Chao said. Her voice could be heard in the background. A voice he would never forget. Especially after she confessed her love for him on the day of graduation. He had just showed up at the school, she crashed into him at the top of the stairs, a common occurrence. Standing there for the longest moment before she spoke. His mind couldn’t process what she had told him. His heart stalled in his chest and he could’t say a word. Not that he didn’t have feelings for her, just that she had always said she didn’t like him like that. He swore her love was for Luka, and maybe part of it was.

“Thank you Sifu.” He said hanging up the phone. There was a knock at the door. Adrien peered through the door. It was a bell boy. He slid the chain and oppended the door.

“This was sent for you.” the man handed him a suit bag, like one from the dry cleaners only this was fancier.

“Thank you.” Adrien said closing the door. He carried the hung garment to his bedroom and tossed it on the bed. Pacing back and forth as his heart skipped a beat.

“Well what is it?” Plagg asked flying out from where ever he had been hiding. The logo on the bag was clearly from the temple. His heart throttled like the engine of a sports car in his chest as he unzipped the garment bag. It was a simple garment. The shirt was long and black with dark red trim. The pants matched. Adrien pulled it out and slipped the pants on first. The cuffs came up slightly above his ankles as is the design. He performed a couple high kicks, Side to side and front. He kicked back knocking the lamp off his night stand.

“Carefull where you kick you almost hit me.” Plagg said. Adrien laughed.

“We’ve been hit by our own cataclysm, I think you can take a kick.” Plagg scowled at him. He picked up the top. It opened in the the front and wore like a robe. He slipped his arms into the sleeves pulling it closed around his waist. He slid the sash off the rung of the hanger and tied it around his waist holding the top closed. Sifu had taught him how to wear it. He slipped on the matching shoes that lay in the bottom of the garment bag. He went into the bathroom to inspect his appearance. The top had slits up the sides for movement freedom. It didn’t move at all as he kicked and punched moving his arms around infront of the mirror.

“It’s not as good as your OTHER suit.” Plagg said jealous of the new look. “Even your Marinette style is better than this one.”

“No argument there.” Adrien smiled. “I’ve never had a civilian uniform before.” Another knock at the door came. Adrien greeted the bell boy who was escorting several well dressed men. Adrien held the door open for them. He waited for one to offer his hand before shaking it, as was customary. He motioned for them to sit in the seating area and they did.

“We have come to deliver you news of Chao.” One spoke. “As you may already know he passed on this morning.” he pulled a manila envelope from his satchel and held it in both hands. “He had these prepared for you awhile ago.” he handed the packet to Adrien with both hands, so Adrien accepted it with both hands. “Please open it now.” the men waited as Adrien pulled the stack of papers from the envelope.

“Last will & testament?” Adrien frowned and looked up at them.

“You shall become the soul heir to the temple grounds, the school and all it’s contents.” one began to read from his copy of the forms. You will take up his place as Laoshi to the children and carry on his teachings.” It was a great honor to have bestowed on a person. Adrien couldn’t speak as he watched the man read through the forms. “There shall be no classes until the end of mourning.” with that the men stood up. Adrien stood up and escorted them to the door. A call came in on his phone. It was Cheng Sifu.

“I am downstairs, I can not stay long.” he sounded rushed. Adrien hurried down stairs. Plagg tucking himself into the sash. A secret pocket had been crafted into it.

“Perfect.” Adriem smiled as he made his way to the elevator. Downstairs he found Cheng Sifu sitting on a bench under a tree. He took a seat next to him.

“You look great.” Cheng said indicating the suit.

“Chao Sifu passed away this morning.” Adrien started. “I was with him went he went.” His tears threatened to appear but he swallowed back scanning the scene for signs of Marinette.

“They are over there.” he motioned to a temple turned museum across the street. She would not be able to see him where he sat. “I am sorry to hear about your Sifu. Adrien, you have done well here.”

“He gave me the kwoon.” Adrien said flatly. “I am to take over as Laoshi.”

“Congratulations Adrien.” Cheng beamed with joy for his young student. “You have come along way even in the kitchen. Will you tell me why you came here? Why you avoid the one you love?” Cheng always seemed to know that which even Adrien hadn’t. Adrien knew now that he loved her, but he had always been blinded by his love for Ladybug. Well, he still loved her too, he just thought more maturely about it and having a life with a woman who you didn’t know her real identity made things more difficult. It’s not like they could get married.

“It’s...comlicated.” Adrien said. “After my father was arrested, I didn’t know who I was. I came here to find that out.” He could have gone anywhere, but why here? “Maybe, here, i still had a connection to her.” he mused.

“I will call you, when they leave.” Cheng said standing up. “Unless you change your mind then join us for dinner tonight.” His sheepish smile swelled in Adrien’s heart. He was such a wonderful man so caring, and attuitive.

“You know I won’t. But.” Adrien stood up. “Does she talk about me?”

“I asked her about you last night, and…” he looked across the street. “It made her sad.” it hurt Adrien to think that the thought of him would make such a cheerful girl sad.

“I will see you soon.” Adrien said. He could see her and her family walking out of the building across the street so he slipped deeper into the shadows as he watched Cheng rejoin his family. He went back to his apartment. His phone rang.

“Wow, your popular today.” Plagg said escaping from the sash once the door was secure.

“I need you to meet me in London,” Felix announced in a rush. “Your mother woke up!”

#miraculous fandom #ladynoir #miraculous chat noir #adrienette #miraculous ladybug #marichat #miraculous world #felix graham de vanily #adrien agreste

11 notes · View notes

littlx-songbxrd · 3 years

Note

ZIA A NEW THING ON AN OLD MATTER CAME TO ME

If Cordelia would have told Alastair how she feels at the end of Choi and insist on going to Paris because she can't be in London right now I think he would understand? And support her even if he wants her to stay because her well-being is more important?

There's a lot of "London is in chaos right now" and "she left when her family needs her" and "he'll be mad at her" (I think but haven't seen this in a while) but I also think it's reasonable she would need to take her mind off things after everything that happened?? The anger is more because she did it without telling anyone?

Anyway, we don't know for sure if she told Alastair right? She asked him to do something so perhaps she also told him why? He could have guessed too? I don't remember precisely what happened~

The main point: Cordelia confiding in Alastair and telling him what she wants to do and Alastair supporting his sister and what she wants/needs because he understands what it's like to be in a rough time and if it would help his sister then screw everything else. He wouldn't be mad if he sees that's what she wants, and that would happen if they talk heart to heart!!

Please I just want more siblings' content T^T

Sorry for rambling here I just think it would have been so touching :0

Hi styx <3

So Ok I UNDERSTANS EVERYTHING HERE

But at least in my opinion, when I say Alastairs going to be mad Cordelia left I've never necesarily meant hes mad because Cordelia chose to leave, or because she needed ti get away from the situation she was in. I alwsys thought hed be mad she lied to him, that she prefered running off than ever talking to him when he made it explicitly clear hed be there for her if something happened. Those are the exact words he tells her once she weds, that if she needs anything to just come home

After years of both of them isolating he was lead to believe they were finally gaining back a relationshio based on mutual trust, and I think whats going to hurt more than anything is to find out she trusted someone she had known for mere months than to simply trust him. And we've already seen how hurt Alastairs been before by this, because in chog when Cordelia spies on him he never gets angry for anything other than the fact she didnt trust him. Because all through the years he was aware hed let their relationship go to its worse of points, but he could rely they at least trusted eachother

Her not believing his word over that of a boy she had known for the smallest time in her life and for friends she had just met hurt, but to know she confided in someone about issues he tried his best to show she would be there with her for will absolutely sting

That with the stress for planning the funeral, the baby, everything. Hed find himself in the same spot he did back in chog. Fatherless, encharge of everything, the weight of the world yet again on him.

Only this time theres no small hope one day he'll tell Cordelia, and they can bear it together. Hes done it, yet here he is alone again

If cordelia had COMMUNICATED I ABSOLUTELY BELIEVE HE WOULDNT BE MAD, i just think the "alastairs gonna be mad at cordelia" doesnt come from her leaving

It comes from her yet again not trusting him

Also sadly her decision to leave happened after she talked to alastair so she couldnt have told him there, maybe she wrote a letter? Who knows!

9 notes · View notes

leckmichimarsch1782 · 3 years

Text

Debussy’s Disastrous Love Life

the most important thing to state first is that there will be no bawdy puns where i joke about debussys name and make it sound naughty, that being said:

when i said in my last post that debussy’s romantic life was a literal soap opera, i really meant it, except the only reason this might not be in a soap opera is because some parts may not be suitable for cable television, not that anyone’s watching anymore anyway.

i promise im just reading all of this off wikipedia so it really is true this time, the last story may have been somewhat apocryphal but i really hope not

ok well let me first paint you a picture of paris around the turn of the century and shortly after. it had a very palpable aesthetic, you had your cafes, and your quirky cool bohemians hanging out at the cafes like hippies over fifty years before that even became a thing, and art nouveau was starting to gain traction which was real pretty looking, and you had cholera if you didnt boil your water before drinking it (unless you wanna go tchaikovsky and say “im depressed anyway, fuck it”) erik satie fit into this picture by playing his atmospheric almost melancholic gnossiennes to slip through the conversations and create that quintissential turn of the century parisian vibe.

debussy fit into this picture as a homewrecker i guess. first he met a woman called gabrielle around the time he met satie and they started living together in the summer of 1893, and he basically cheated on her with a singer named therese roger like only a year after they moved in together. their engagement was promptly called off, and debussy lost friends as a consequence. eventually he set his sight on gabrielle’s friend lilly though, and dumped gabrielle for lilly. debussy even threatened to kill himself if lilly didn’t accept him. wasn’t he so dreamy? debussy really watched the office, saw kelly on screen for a minute, then said “i wanna be like her.” lilly did accept debussy’s affections though, and they got married around 1899.

then he cheated on her too.

this time it happened almost five years into their relationship (which i guess is improvement?). apparently he didn’t think she was smart enough, or that she had the right sensitivity for music, so he had already become a bit indifferent towards his current girlfriend i guess. he then happened to meet the mother of one of his piano students, one emma bardac, an intriguing, sophisticated singer who was very sharp in conversation and was also the wife of a prominent banker (but still had plenty of extramarital relationships). instant fireworks.

debussy convinced lilly to stay at her home alone for a while, and immediately after left the city with emma on a steamy forbidden clandestine elopement to the north of france. now, i know debussy cheated on multiple women, and as you’ll soon see, kinda drove his previous girlfriend lilly to do something she’d really regret, but easily his worst moral crime was taking a significant other to the north of france when he had no reason at all not to go to the south instead. honestly, who goes to the part of france that has english weather?? when the part of france that’s by fucking italy and spain is just right there, beckoning you to pristine romantic mediterranean sandy beaches? i don’t care if he wrote la mer or prelude to the afternoon of a fawn or even pelleas and melisande, claude debussy had horrible taste.

anyway, on the 11th of august 1904, debussy wrote to lilly, not telling her there was another woman, but simply that their marriage was off. in debussy’s defence, he didn’t know that the following would happen, but still could have avoided it by just being good to his significant others: two months later, lilly attempted to shoot herself fatally by firing a revolver shot into her chest. fortunately, she lived, but shit really hit the fan after that. the entire story came to public light, embroiling both claude and emma in a deep scandal that resulted in emma being disowned by her parents, divorced from her husband, even more of debussy’s friends disowning him, including messager, dukas, and though he and ravel were never very close, their relationship grew sour when ravel joined other past friends of debussy in creating a public fund to raise money for lilly.

basically everyone in paris was pissed at both claude and emma, so they left for england for a while then eventually came back and chilled there.

that’s kind of it for all the drama, they just married, had a daughter then died pretty much.

there’s really no moral to the story besides maybe don’t cheat on people?

another thing to probably mention is that this kind of stuff with regard to composers probably shouldn’t affect our enjoyment of their work. sure, wagner was an awful person for more reasons than just antisemitism, and his wife (liszt’s daughter) cosima *blech* was pretty gross too, but the liebestod from tristan almost made me cry and i’m not ashamed to admit it. beethoven basically drove his nephew to attempt suicide but we’re not really going to pretend his quartets aren’t bangers. mozart- no mozart never did anything wrong, actually, if i could kick it with the composers of my choice, mozart and haydn would be pretty high on my list.

the point is, though, just because a composer did something nasty doesn’t mean we can’t still love their music. except for chris brown, who is objectively awful

peace.

#composer #classical composers #classical music #classical memes #classical meme #claude debussy #debussy #classical piano #piano #richard wagner

15 notes · View notes

vnckocurzyca · 3 years

Text

New chapter new analysis

I’m publishing it one more time because it didnt show in tags for some reason???

I put it under “read more” so maybe now.

I finally read translation so I can finally write something about the new chapter. I know people’s strong feelings towards it and I think it’s totally understandable huh

I, personally, liked this chapter even if I think it was creepy as fuck. But I know Jun’s work and how she writes her stories and I know that she purposely made it really uncomfortable. I think this chapter was made to be upsetting because what happened during it was kinda important?

Warning; LONG POST (contains spoilers to new chapter)

First thing - Noe was forced to see some Vanitas’s memories. Of course by Misha eyes, but still it’s Vanis past. And as we know already, Vanitas REALLY didn’t want Noe to know about anything his past-related. He even threated him that he would kill you if Noe would someday try to drink his blood. So it’s opening for totally new conflict. We have two options

Vanitas would come to place and see Noe drinking Mishas blood and it would be horrible

Vanitas wouldn’t see it and Noe would live in sting of remorse and we know how emotional Noe is and it would be also horrible. And this option also has 2 options

Noe would finally tell Vani that he drank Mishas blood and it would be horrible

Misha would tell Vanitas that Noe drank his blood and it also would be horrible

When Noe started drinking Mishas blood he walked into a trap and there is no escape now. Vanitas is going to KNOW this and its going to be a problem, because knowing Vanis past, memories and emotions was a borderline in their relationship - Noe didn’t get a permission to step over it. And now he just... steped, because of Mishas blackmail.

Also the whole scene was made to be creepy - we can clearly see that Noe is distraught and scared and uncomfortable. We can hear his thoughts, we can see his terrified face

He is terrified for A LOT of reasons. A lot.

He is scared of Domis life. He don’t know what is going on with her and she is unconscious and she can literally DIE. Domi is his best friend, his childhood friend and nearly all family he has left. Domi is the closest person to him and he can’t just lose her like he lost Louis.

He DON’T WANT to read Vanitas’s past without his permission and knowledge. Its awful, it’s non consensual and non-con it’s something Noe hates, because, even if he would like to know Vani’s past (what he said back before Gevaudan arc) he don’t want to know it without Vanis consenst and he didn’t push. And now he is forced to see them, to betray Vani’s trust.He, probably, hates himself thanks to it.

He is blackmailed, bullied and intimidated which is bad on it’s own. He has absolutely NO CONTROL over a situation, he is absolutely subordinated and can’t do anything to change his situation. It’s scary.

He is forced to drink blood, which is a really intimate and delicate activity for him. He hates being forced to drink blood and forcing to drink blood, and, additionaly, Misha is a kid. Or, at least, he look like a kid (it’s hard to say his age for sure and how many years their past with Moreau happened). It’s gross, creepy and weird and Noe feels it. We can see him backing away from a fucking kid.

Jun did it purposely. Combine all of it, to made the horror moment for him, probably to break him in front o Misha.

The running thing in Vanitas no Carte is motif of Noe not having any control over anything in his life (even without his noticing). Noe never had a control over anything.

He didn’t have a control over his life during childhood, ie when he was sold on auction

He didn’t have any control over Louis’s death and curse. He couldn’t do anything to save him or to save other kids back then. He could do nothing.

He don’t have any control in general - he was trained by the Teacher to be his pupil. Noe don’t even know how big control Grandpa de Sade has over him and his doings.

He didn’t have any control when Domi found him at Orloks. She just kidnapped him to Altus.

He don’t have any control over his relationship with Jeanne - anytime he wants to talk to her or about her he is interuptted.

He didn’t want his blood be sucked by Ruthven and he didn’t want to Swear.

He don’t have any control now. He didn’t wanted to know Vanis past non consensualy, he didn’t wanted to drink Mishad blood, he don’t want to see Domi in this situation.

It’s a writing continuity. We are being told how little control Noe has over his (and others) life. It’s becaming a plot point. MochiJun knows what she is doing. She purposely made the whole chapter creepy and unsettling. She need us to know that what is happening right now is wrong - not only drinking blood from a 1/4 naked kid, but also the rest. Everything. That this chapter is traumatic - we literally touched Noes trauma, Domis trauma and Mishas trauma over a few pages and panels:

Dominique - we can see how she reacted to Louis death, how she wanted to make Noe feels better, why she changed her hairstyle and outfit, how she hated herself because it was her brother who died, not her. We can see it now - she is depressed, she hatees herself and would prefer to die over Louis. She was easy to catch for Misha.

Noe - we can see that he can do anything for Domi because she is his last friend, his family, last thing (person) he has. He can’t lose her, he is desperate and traumatized over Louis death so he can do anything, even suck Mishas blood and know Vanis past even if he hates it and its wrong for him.

Misha - we can see thanks to his flashbacks that it was hinted he was (if I undertand english correctly, sorry, it’s not my first language) se*//ually abused as a child. He thought his mother was possesed by devil, it was traumatizing on it’s own, but he was also dressed as a girl, physically abused and hit by his mother and used during her “sessions” with clients. Then he was kidnapped by Moreau who, probably, was experimenting on him just like on Vanitas - so Misha was abused again. And later Vanitas killed “father” what also traumatized him. His behaviour towards Noe it’s not really that suprising - its horrible and sad and heartbreaking knowing why Misha is that way, but its logical. It has sense. It’s just how his trauma made him.

Sooo do I think what happened in the chapter was good or okay? No. It was creepy and made me feel sick. But do I think Jun is bad for making it this way? No. I think her work is great, because she actually did planned it logically. She delivered TONS OF INFORMATIONS by only one chapter. Tons, about a lot of characters - Misha, Vanitas, Noe, Dominique, even Roland (he know Misha is one thing, but, also, why he was so beaten up? What happened my man? Who hurted you?) It wasn’t just gross pedo-fanservice some people accused it to be. (even if it was gross anyway och my gos this scene with Misha standing over Noe was frightening, I was just as scared as Noe, I felt like I was in his place and I was looking at Misha)

Also! I’m pretty sure one of the reason for Misha undressing his collar a little bit was for us (and maybe Noe too) to see his possesion mark on his arm. For some reason we, as an audience, need to know this.

But! We also get a lot of different informations -

Domi is a royal guard and is working in castle, so she probably knew Luca before and had contact with him or some other royal people. i think it’s interesting that she worked at castleas a royal guard.

Luca probably likes Domi and was worried about her. Also after knowing she is missing he decided to took direct actions, he is not passive.

Misha has Vanitas of the Blue Moon’s possesion mark on his hand. It’s really interesting, especially when we know that its his prosthetic arm. Somebody tried to cut his arm with a possesion mark and I bet it was Vanitas or Misha himself. Yet it DIDN’T work, mark of possesion is still here, above his prosthetic.

Noe “don’t know anything about Vanitas”. It was an important sentence. It was something that Noe need to know narratively speaking. It’s pushing the story forward, because Noe’s and Vani’s relationship is the core of the story. It was literally told in the first chapter that it’s a story about their journey.

Misha had a lot of bruises on his whole body after he was rescued. We knew he was beaten, but we could also see it’s evidence.

Mishas face when Noe drank his blood was similar to his mother face when a vampire drank his blood. It wasn’t accidental, we were shown his trauma and how it’s affected him.

Next thing I noticed:

In this panel, Misha looks A LOT like Vanitas. Og course he has child features and chubbier face, he has white(?) hair and eyelashes ets, but his mimic, his gaze, how one of his eyes is covered by hair and his words. Its literally how Vanitas’s panel would be draw. It’s really Vanitaish.

We also got some questions, like:

What happened to Misha and how he lost his hand?

What Luca ordered Jeanne? (probably to check out real Paris and maybe find Domi or Noe)

Why Mishas mark of possesions was so important for us to know?

Is that Roland met Misha in the past important?

Why was Roland so beaten up?

There was also one more thing. Jun is operating in her story not only by making parallels betweend her characters (ie Teacher and VotBM, or Astolfo nad Vanitas, or Louis and Domi etc) but also contrasts. The biggest contrast motif on the story are probably Vanitas and Noe thanks to not only their history, but also their appearance, personality, design of their clothes, their height, their names (Vanitas being related to death and vanity, Noe being related to saving and something biblical etc). Their whole characters are made constrast. And so we got here:

Vanitas and Misha are not made parallels, theyre made contrast.

Misha is looking from the upside, Vanitas is looking from the above, Mishas hair is white, Vanitas hair is black, Vani has a shadow over his face, misha is lighted. Misha has white eyelashes, Vani has black. Misha looks calm an suprised, Vani looks stressed. Their whole “atmosphere” is different. Even if Misha is bruised in this panel he looks clean, even angelic, when Vanitas looks... bad, he has dark circles under eyes, wrinkled eyebrows, bandage etc. They’re made to contrast themselves, not to be compared to. It’s the next hint about their role in the story I suppose. That they’re not similar, they’re not the same and there is something basically different about their roles.

I would also like to write about shadow and light work in this chapter, but I’m just really tired right now, soo here it is! My analyze od the new chapter, or, at least, the most important parts of it (for me). I liked it in general, but it was... stressed and I was anxious about this chapter for the one whole day. But in general I think Jun did gods work with delivering informations she wanted to delivere.

#the case study of vanitas #vanitas no carte #vanitas no shuki #long post #vanitas #misha #dominique de sade #noe archiviste

90 notes · View notes

tardisbadwolfrose · 3 years

Note

For the character thing, please do Rose Tyler

Ooo thats fun. I was not expecting a doctor who character. Ok. Lets go.

Why I like them: part of it is just because she was my first companion. I fell in love with Doctor Who through her. But also, theres something to be said for a perfectly normal, ordinary person with flaws and who probably doesnt think much of themselves, who is young and naive and loving, who ends up doing extraordinary things without some preternatural destiny guiding them. The only other companion who really hit on that was Bill. Donna had a bit, but there were elements of s4 that implied that it was all some sort of prophecy coming together. The DoctorDonna and all that. Rose really was so ordinary. Even Bad Wolf was born of something so ordinary, so human, this intense love and desire to protect. Rose was, in so many ways, such a perfect first companion, because from the beginning shes such an every girl. And she has so much compassion for so many. Everytime she interacts with people, especially people who work for other people, she treats them like people and like equals. Theres the mechanic in "the end of the world," gwenyth, etc. I just... Ugh. I love her. Bills still my fave, but rose is a VERY close second.

Why I don't like them: her selfishness. I dont know if its really that I dont like her because of it, because I like that she has a real, human flaw, and its a real reason that people might dislike them. It means shes well written, and feels real and human. But it still bugs me. Especially in s1, but even in parts of s2. She treats Mickey and her mother with this dissmissiveness, which is very immature. Like she thinks they only exist when shes around. She gets called on it though, and pretty early on. She never fixes it fully, especially where Jackie is concerned, but she makes an effort. But you can especially see it in school reunion, with her jealousy of sarah jane. She has a problem with the people she loves fully having lives outside of her, especially when those lives seem like a threat to the one shes creating.

Favorite Episode: the Parting of ways, fear her, turn left, or stolen earth/journeys end. Aka, im a simple girl with simple pleasures, and those pleasures are rose being a badass/saving the day. Special mention for the idiot lantern bc i must have watched it 20 times and they give me LIFE the doctor and rose in that episode.

Favorite season: 2. Shes starting to get more confident and sure of herself, but shes still human and flawed.

Favorite Line: whatever the hell she says during the christmas invasion, when shes trying to get the sycorax to leave. Its utter bull, makes zero sense, and its beautiful.

OTP: Doctor/Rose. Any doctor. Im a little desperate to see rose/thirteen. Also Rose/doctor/river. If ianto didnt exist, id say rose/jack/doctor, but alas, he does.

Favorite outfit: oh god. Either the one in the unquiet dead, the idiot lantern, the long game, or the doctor dances. There are so many more though. Her costuming was brilliant.

BroTP: rose and jack.

Headcanon: you mean besides time lord/immortal Rose? Ok here it goes.

So when Rose dropped out of high school for Jimmy Stone, she ran away. Went off on tour with Stone and his band. While on tour, she got.very close to the other band members, including the lead singer/lyricist, a very cute 20 yr old Welshman going through his rebellious phase named Ianto Jones, who helped her figure out she needed to go home and, in the process realized he needed to stop rebelling and start acting like a mature adult, leading to him eventually signing on with Torchwood. Meanwhile, Rose is stranded all the way in Paris because she won't stay on that tour bus with Jimmy, and she's terrified to call her mum, who had told her she'd never forgive her if she ran off and wasted her life on Jimmy. Penniless and desperate, walking alone in the rain, Rose thinks she's never going to make it back to London when she almost gets run over by a car after forgetting to watch where she's going and wandering into the street. The driver swerves and just barely miss her, and after pulling over, a man hops out of the car and starts admonishing her, when Rose bursts into tears. Feeling badly, the man insists on taking her home. She tells him home is in London, too far away for her to accept, but the man refuses to listen, telling her he was heading to London anyway, and here, why don't you borrow my cell phone and call your mum, I'm sure she wants you home. He's right of course, and Jackie cries from relief at hearing from her and is thrilled she's coming home. The man's name was Rory, she learned on the drive, and he was married to a wonderful woman who he loved named Amy, and they lived in Leeds but he was travelling around from work and he was heading from Paris to London because of it. It took six hours to gt back to London, and once they got there, her mum treated Rory to breakfast and he went on his way and rose never saw him again.

Yes, it was that Rory. He was with Amy and the Doctor and he got stranded in Paris in the early 2000's and he wasn't heading into London at all but he felt very bad about almost hitting the poor girl with his car and he recognized her from an old picture he found while he was wandering the Tardis and he brought it to the doctor to ask him about it and the Doctor got very sad and very quiet and walked very quickly away from the conversation and Rory figured that meant that he used to travel with her and there was a sad story in there somewhere and he was curious about the girl and how she'd inspire that kind of emotion from a man he'd rarely seen care about anything real.

Should I make this a fanfiction? I kind of want to make this an actual fic... Anyway.

Unpopular opinion: ...She is a very much not straight woman. I don't know if that's unpopular, but it isn't popular. Or at least, it isn't talked about.

A wish: That she comes back in S13 and we see a reunion. I am but a simple girl with simple pleasures and I have been WAITING WITH BATED BREATH FOR A ROSE COMEBACK FOR YEARS AND I AM O V E R D U E.

An OMG-Please-Don't-Ever-Happen: For a character that is no longer in the show there isn't much I can say. I'd be very disappointed if they brought Rose back and ruined it but that requires them to bring her back first.

5 words that best describe them: Kind, good, jealous, badass, loving

My nickname for them: I don't really have one

Give me more characters! I love this!

#doctor who #new who #rose tyler #rory williams #ianto jones #jack harkness #characters #my favorite characters #nine #ten #ninth doctor #tenth doctor

16 notes · View notes

consumeconstantly · 4 years

Text

Small Buff Girl Sightings Ch. 5

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ao3

3:00AM | CoffeeVamp: bb bat update us TheOG: ^^ more info on the situation in paris

3:28AM | Demonspawn: It is difficult to obtain information on Hawkmoth. The butterflies disperse after they are cleansed, and before they land their target, they don’t show up electronically. Coffee Vamp: o how the mighty have fallen i thought u said u could best me bb boi

3:42AM | Demonspawn: I’d like to see you do better. Coffee Vamp: IS THAT A CHALLENGE Coffee Vamp: ill take u up on that gimme 24 hours and ur going down TheOG: he has had a whole month so dont be too sure of that LadyLady: would you guys SHUT UP its two and some of us have jobs to do Coffee Vamp: cmon babs u luv us dont deny it LadyLady: Don’t make me hunt you down, Tim. Coffee Vamp: oOooO proper punctuation im shaking TheOG: just shut off notifications Babs TheOG: Bruce does Jesus: i don’t think the man has checked this chat in years Coffee Vamp: wdym brucie checks the chat all the time hes just a silent lurker Coffee Vamp: he doesnt even set himself to invisible

3:57AM | Daddy is away. Coffee Vamp: im so glad i have admin privileges imagine if i didnt bruce would have a boring normal nickname like his actual name LadyLady: good lord, why am I even in this chat?? Daddy: You’re supposed to keep them under control. Coffee Vamp: SEE I TOLD U BRUCE IS A SILENT LURKER> THIS. IS. SOLID. PROOF. IN YOUR FACE TheOG: nobody said otherwise Coffee Vamp: also how are the people have you made friends Jesus: Demon spawn? Making friends? Id be less surprised if he told us he has a new fling Coffee Vamp: is j right? Got a winter fling?

4:12AM | Coffee Vamp: ur lack of a response tells us nothing TheOG: im sure he’s just adopted his usual icy persona Coffee Vamp: haha hes the bb of so many things Coffee Vamp: bb vamp bb demon spawn ice ice bb Coffee Vamp: getitt im so funny

4:36AM | Coffee Vamp: guys?

“I told you I could get her to write her number on your cup,” Marinette grins with pride.

“And I told you I didn’t want her to.” Damian scowls and kicks a pebble in his path.

“You’re still wearing the clothes I picked out for you,” she points out.

“You told me to wear it. I wore it. I’m not interested in her.”

Marinette squints at Damian, evaluates whether he’s telling the truth or not. “Huh, you really aren’t interested. I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t wear the other outfit I picked out for you-- that one would have gotten her to ask you out on the spot.”

Damian groans. “We’re going to have to find a new coffee place.”

“Or we could just come when she’s not on shift and run away like mice when we do see her?”

Damian gives her The Look.

“But they have good coffee here,” Marinette whines.

“Maybe you should have thought about that before dressing me up and sending me to my death.”

“It’s not my fault! You only have your parents to blame for your looks.”

It’s true; both of Damian’s parents are good-looking. His whole family is, actually, adopted or not. All of the good looking people he meets are talented and have a tragic life story. Which is the cause and which is the effect, Damian isn’t sure. But it holds true even in Paris. All he has to do is look at Marinette or Adrien, though he’s not a hundred percent sure where the tragedy kicks in for Marinette. Probably the time when she was at odds with Lila, but he hasn’t looked much into the situation. He can even use Lila Rossi as an example. She has even worse color coordination than Damian is, but her features are model worthy. Lila Rossi is also definitely fucked up in ways that Damian doesn’t care to explore.

The effects of Marinette’s well-placed compliments has Damian thinking about himself in a positive manner that he never has before. Bruce is always stingy with praise, and the other senior members of the Justice League of America see him as another Robin that doesn’t need praise because competency comes with the mantle. Dick and Barbara compliment him occasionally, but that’s rarer now that his place is more firmly cemented in the family. Damian doesn’t think he’s ever had someone so willing to genuinely compliment him. Marinette’s compliments extend to more than just his looks, as well. She praises his technological skills as he sets up her website and has complimented him as he helps her out with whatever altercations she inevitably comes across on the streets. If he reveals his skills as Robin, reveals himself as Damian Wayne, will he receive even more praise?

“But since we did buy you that absolute knockout of an outfit, you’re going to have to wear it eventually. So whose heart do you want to steal?”

“I don’t want a relationship,” Damian repeats. They seem like more effort than they’re worth, and he always sees couples fighting and complaining about each other. Plus, they have to make time for each other and his alter ego doesn’t allow for that, though he supposes that he isn't Robin. At least, not right now.

“You don’t need to want a relationship just to flirt with somebody. Who’s it going to be? The intern at the Louvre? My parent’s newest hire? Oooh, how about Nicolette?” Marinette’s voice takes on a more mischievous tone.

Damian will give Marinette this much: her taste in the aesthetics of people is far from bad. The intern from the Louvre is two hundred pounds of lean muscle with a devil-may-care smile and a deep, belly laugh that makes people laugh with him, but Damian and he don’t have anything in common. Her parent’s new hire is knockout gorgeous, with warm brown eyes, and definitely the kind of girl Damian would have gone for as a one night stand back in Gotham. However, he’s also 98% sure that she has a very possessive boyfriend who stops by the bakery every time she has a shift. Nicolette is considered her college’s belle, and her intense gaze paired with her surprisingly friendly demeanor might have been appealing to Damian if she weren’t ten years older than him.

“I’m not into any of them,” he says, simply.

“Then who are you into? Surely someone has caught your eye in the past month?” Marinette looks genuinely curious, but her expression shifts into horror. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry. I never asked your preferences, if I was being insensitive, I’m sorry, I mean I’m pan, but you absolutely don’t have to tell me, it’s your right if you’re not comfortable.”

Damian does look slightly uncomfortable now that she’s looking at him more closely. His arms are crossed over each other, across his chest, and his hair is tousled. Then, he lets out a small laugh, and Marinette melts. “It’s fine, Pigtails. All of the people you listed are attractive, but I’m not attracted to them. I’m more of a personality guy, though I can’t say that personality has stopped me from things more than dates before.”

He’s had his fair share of hook-ups and makeout sessions in the past when feeling particularly frustrated with something that wasn’t going his way, though his primary method of relief is through sparring. Short missions and one night stands go fairly well together; he doesn’t ever have to deal with people wanting long term relationships, and even if they do, he’s gone before they know it. So far, he hasn’t hooked up with anyone in Paris, but then again, he’s only been here for a month and this is a long term mission. Whatever time he’s not with Marinette or at school is dedicated to piecing together the mystery that is the Miraculous and trying to figure out Hawkmoth’s identity.

“Oh,” Marinette continues to blush.

She’s clearly too embarrassed to bring up any other topic, so Damian decides that he’ll shoot the same conversation topic back at her. Marinette is attractive, and people she meets ask for her numbers and dates often enough. She’ll accept the former if they aren’t a total creep, but she always turns down requests for dates.

“And you? Why aren’t you out there questing for love? No crushes or significant others that I need to beat off with a stick?”

This does manage to lessen her flush. She frowns, turns something over in her mind.

“No crushes right now, no. I used to have a huge crush on Adrien just a year ago. He’s such a sweet person, but we don’t see eye to eye on important matters.” And also not into sex, either. Even physical affection hits him the wrong way sometimes, which makes Marinette worry even further for his well being with Lila’s constant touches. Still, he hasn’t said anything, and Lila hasn’t done anything more than grasp his arm or shoulders every now and then, to reassure the class that yes, they are the golden couple. Marinette also suspects that he is very unwilling to talk about the whole situation in general, and it’s not as though they’re super close.

Of course she had a crush on Adrien. Damian can see it now, Marinette looking at Adrien with her big blue eyes, her lashes fluttering when she gets close to him. Stuttering when she gets embarrassed or when she gets close to him. It makes his lungs constrict, but he’s not sure why.

“As for past relationships, there’s only really Luka. We had a pretty good run, but he’s out of the country, touring. He wanted to try long distance, but I didn’t really want that. But he’s respectful-- there’s no need to beat him off with a stick or anything.”

“I’m surprised a pretty girl like you doesn’t have more suitors,” Damian says, stepping over a crack in the sidewalk as they walk towards the park.

Marinette gags. “There are some other people who have been interested, but I wouldn’t exactly consider them relationship material. If you’re going after a girl just because she looks exotic, that’s sort of nasty. I guess I’m just unlucky in love.”

“At least you’re not as bad off as Ladybug is,” Damian jokes.

She looks at him strangely. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, first there was that creepy sculptor who must have been twice her age, then there’s Chat Noir who keeps flirting with her despite her requests not to, plus all of the random love akumas. I’m not even going to talk about the hordes of guys who chase after her, trying to get a date just because she’s a superhero. It’s not even like she can kick them between the legs because she has an image to uphold and all that.” He smirks, nudges her with his arm. “I’m surprised you haven’t done that with some of your stalkers.”

“Oh. You’re right, huh. Though, I don’t think Chat Noir has actually flirted for a while now.” Chat Noir has been very subdued as of late, and it makes Ladybug worry.

Marinette feels uncomfortable with the way the conversation has shifted. How does Damian know about all of these past akuma attacks? As far as Marinette is aware, most information about anything Miraculous related is difficult to get a hold of abroad, largely because the Miraculous try to hide their existence as best they can, and partially because Mayor Bourgeois doesn’t want word to get out that he hasn’t flushed a supervillain terrorist out even though he’s had three years to do it.

“Copycat happened three years ago.” It’s a question, almost.

“I figure I might as well keep up with the heroes of Paris. I’m here and they’re interesting.” Damian figures this is as good a time as any to bring up his interest in Hawkmoth. Marinette has been nothing but helpful and she’s definitely the kind of person whose heart is in the right place. Not to mention that she’s definitely smart and seems impartial; the one time he asked her about her thoughts on the heroes, he found out that she didn’t see them as perfect. She was able to critique Ladybug in full, which seemed pretty odd considering the rest of Paris seemed to have nothing but glowing praise for the heroine. “You’ve had some awful luck with akumas yourself. Weird how Ladybug didn’t show up when you got kidnapped by Evillustrator. One of the only times she didn’t show up for an akuma.”

“And what happened to the other heroes? It’s mostly Ladybug now. She must be in an awful state with her civilian life.” He looks off to the park, occasionally flicking his attention back Marinette’s face, evaluating her expression.

She catches his eyes and he swiftly looks away, looking almost nervous. Marinette stiffens. He knows, he knows, he knows, he can’t know. But how? How does he know that she’s Ladybug? She hasn’t let anything slip around him. She's been careful not to. Everything she’s ever said about Ladybug has been brief and curt, taking on an almost angry tone.

“If you’re so interested in Parisian heroes, I’m sure you saw the press conference Ladybug and Chat Noir gave last year about why the other heroes would be showing up less often.” Marinette keeps her voice carefully neutral. She needs to play this safe. She’s probably over reacting-- she’s been on edge with Hawkmoth sending out an akuma attack nearly every single day for the past few months.

Damian shakes his head. “It didn’t seem like good reasoning. Ladybug and Chat Noir are too untrained. They haven’t beat two villains in three years. They should let someone else take over.”

Marinette has come across a good number of Ladybug and Chat Noir haters throughout her time. Those who dislike the Parisian heroes often make the exact same arguments Damian is now. That they’re not fast enough. That they should have taken down Hawkmoth and Mayura already. This is nothing new to her, though it does hurt hearing it from Damian, for some reason. She can’t even argue with most of the points he’s brought up. Going mostly solo was because of her own, selfish reasons. She really should have beaten Hawkmoth and Mayura by now.

“The only thing they have going for them right now is that they’re keeping their Miraculous out of Hawkmoth’s hands.” She pretends that the reason why Chat Noir doesn’t show up to battle is to ensure that Hawkmoth can’t get both of the Miraculous in one fell swoop. It feels hopeless to fight villain after villain without any movement forwards. Her mind wanders to the increasing frequency of akumas and smiles, sardonically. “Some people think it’s only a matter of time until Ladybug and Chat Noir lose.”

“Hawkmoth almost seems to be the better strategist.” The two of them pass store front after store front. “Do you ever wonder what they look like, under the mask? Who they are?”

Marinette stares at the concrete underneath her feet. Hawkmoth, the better strategist? Laughable, and entirely incorrect. Even the people who hate Ladybug admit that her plans almost always work out, and that her plans are second to none. Really the only person who can possibly think that Hawkmoth is a better strategist is--

She can’t think like that. Damian is her friend. He’s just curious about Paris. Her lack of sleep and increase in paranoia re making her imagine things that are impossible. Besides, Damian isn’t on her list of suspects-- he told her he’s only been here for a short time, and Hawkmoth’s Miraculous definitely has a limited range. It’s a real pity that the world of Miraculous makes concrete evidence hard to come by, otherwise, Marinette likes to think Hawkmoth would have been behind bars already.

“No,” she lies. Hawkmoth haunts her dreams and every waking hour. She spends hours and hours on theories and scouring out information and people who fit the clues she’s painstakingly pieced together. “Not really.”

Damian’s eyes are a piercing green, and for a moment, Marinette thinks she stops breathing. “Is that so? I’m really interested in who Ladybug is under the mask. I’d love the opportunity to talk to her in person, especially about her Miraculous. The powers she has are… very interesting.”

No. There’s no way that Damian can be Hawkmoth, right? This is all just her paranoia speaking. Damian is just a foreigner who is interested in super heroes. It’s no biggie. Still, she can’t shake off the idea that there’s more to Damian than meets the eye. The way he walks-- no, prowls-- commands respect. Marinette can tell that he knows how to fight, and knows how to fight well. He’s very good at finding information on people-- she sent a whole case file to her on Renee and his situation with his mother within twenty four hours of going into the precinct, complete with video evidence Marinette knows should have been impossible to procure without hacking-- and keeps up with her critiques on Ladybug and Chat Noir’s techniques like he’s watched their battles over and over again. He remembers akuma battles Marinette has half forgotten, because they happened so long ago.

She stares up at him, hands shoved in the pockets of the jacket she chose for him when they went on their wardrobe makeover. Damian is surprisingly wealthy; he purchased anything she even glanced at with passing approval. He looks straight forward, apparently waiting for some response from her. Just because Damian is her friend, doesn’t mean she can immediately expunge him from her list of suspects. So far, she has taken all of Damian’s words at face value. It didn’t matter to her that he rarely talks about his family or his life before Paris. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t brought her to his home during all of the weeks that they’ve been hanging out together. Really, Marinette just figured that he had a rocky relationship with his family, and that he may have been on the poorer side and was embarrassed to show her where he lived. But clearly. Damian is well off enough to afford brand name clothes without batting an eye. Things aren’t adding up. All of the red flags that she’s blatantly ignored start to crop up in her head.

The book on the species of butterflies that akumas are made of, tucked under his arm. The way he showed up after every single akuma attack when she rarely saw him in the area before or during it. His knowledge of the three languages that form the basis of the Miraculous Tome-- Mandarin, Arabic, and English.

If he is Hawkmoth, what sort of emotions would he be feeling right now? Some sort of euphoria, maybe, realizing that he could get infinitely closer to Ladybug when she is Marinette. Anticipation, too. Has Marinette been hanging out with a super villain for the past month? Has she really come to the point where she can call a supervillain her best friend?

Marinette takes another look at Damian’s outfit. Master Fu said that the Miraculous Hawkmoth owns is in the shape of a brooch. Marinette sees no such object on Damian, which could either mean that he’s not Hawkmoth or that he’s just been taking it off whenever he’s with her. She’s really hoping it’s not the second option.

She needs to gather her thoughts, make a plan on how to proceed. When she’s sure that Damian isn’t looking, Marinette sets off the ringtone that is saved for her Maman’s texts and calls. This catches Damian’s attention, and she waves looks up from her phone as though she’s responding.

“Maman wants me to do a delivery. If you’re looking for more information on the whole superhero situation in Paris, I can get you Alya’s number. She runs the Ladyblog-- I’m sure she’d be glad to talk with you.” Alya also has some of the worst conspiracy theories that Marinette has ever seen. She doesn’t often keep abreast of what the Ladyblog’s portrayal of Ladybug is, but back when Marinette and Alya were friends, she was subjected to wild theories that made her stomach nauseous with how little logic there was. Which means that if-- if-- Damian is actually Hawkmoth, he might be thrown off by what she says.

“I’ll see you on Monday? Jagged texted me last night and wants me to change the embroidery on his commission.” This isn’t exactly a lie; Jagged wants one of the smaller details to be changed, but it certainly won’t take as long as she’s suggesting. Marinette hopes that it’s enough of an excuse to get Damian off her back for the rest of today and tomorrow while she reevaluates her game plans and life choices.

Damian waves her off. “I don’t think that Ladyblogger girl knows anymore than I do. She’s of no help to me. I’ll see you on Monday.”

Marinette’s reaction to Damian’s questions are weird. There’s an underlying tension that she exuded before they parted ways, and he’s still thinking about it a day later.

Marinette, who he always finds near an akuma attack right after it occurs. Marinette, who is emotionally and physically superior to most other Parisians. Marinette, who hasn’t been akumatized in a class full of idiots and other victims. Marinette, who doesn’t like Ladybug even though she seems like a fairly competent and kind hero, despite the fact that she hasn’t caught Hawkmoth yet. Marinette, who rarely talks about akumas despite all of the time he spends with her, which is highly unusual because even people he only briefly meets manage to slip in something about akumas into the conversation. Damian feels like there must be some sort of connection between Marintte and the akuma situation that he’s not getting, but it’s eluding him.

He sits down with his laptop in his apartment and looks up information about Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She’s definitely just as talented as he suspected; in her ninth year of schooling, she won a Gabriel competition, participated in a music video of Clara Nightingale’s, and collaborated with Jagged Stone on an album cover. So that was how she met him-- he wondered, but never asked. There are also a few instagram posts that have tagged her as a good samaritan and a few articles that detail a small, asian girl who’s going around Paris helping random people that are in need.

The weird things that Damian finds are contained in her school records. She’s apparently in very good company with her IQ, but what’s more interesting is all the dates that she is tardy or absent from school. They line up perfectly with all of the dates that akumas appear. He feels dread gather in his stomach.

A few more searches seem to cement his growing suspicions. Around the same time that Marinette obtained a truce with Lila matched up with when theorists believed that the Italian girl started working with Hawkmoth. He reads the instagrams and tweets of her classmates from the first year that Hawkmoth arrived, which talk about how excellent Marinette is at calming them down and guiding them to a better place. He also reads the posts of Chloe Bourgeois and Alya Cesaire and the articles about Marinette and Evillustrator that tell a slightly different story-- that Marinette is capable of manipulating others into more unpleasant situations.

Damian jolts. There is an incoming call from his father.

“Are updates on Paris, Damian?”

Should he give them a clue to his growing suspicions that Marinette is Hawkmoth? No, he can’t tell them until he gathers more information.

“No,” he says. “Information about Hawkmoth and the Miraculous are hard to come by.”

There’s a sigh and what sounds like the rustling of papers from the other side. “I figured. Tim and Barbara can’t find anything over here, either, but the Justice League is worried. They want results.”

“The Justice League and I agreed that having Robin make an appearance would be beneficial. Gain Ladybug and Chat Noir’s trust, or find Hawkmoth. Information might come easier with your alter ego.”

“All right.”

Another pause. He and his father have always had an awkward relationship. Bruce didn’t know of his existence until he was ten, and by that time, the most formative years of Damian’s life had already passed. Bruce Wayne may be many things, but good at dealing with children, he is not. Even after adopting so many children, he doesn’t know how to raise a child. Damian and his brothers have all raised themselves, with Bruce only stepping in when one of them is really going off the rails.

“Is everything else going well in Paris? School is good?”

“School is fine.” Damian wonders whether he should tell his father about Marinette. About the girl who is kind and capable and scarily efficient at dispatching criminals for a citizen and-- he can’t think about her like that. He decides against telling his father about her. She might be Hawkmoth, after all, and confirming her existence to his father means that he’s denying that possibility. “Gotham?”

“Nothing out of the usual. A few run-ins with the Joker.”

Another silence. The lapses in conversation aren’t awkward, but Damian thinks of the playful banter Marinette has with her parents and frowns.

“Goodbye, Father.”

“Goodnight, Damian.”

Damian looks around at his empty apartment. There is nothing in it, except for his suitcase and a few pieces of furniture. It’s nothing like the manor, where he knows that Tim is up at all hours slaving away on another project that Damian rarely gets to see, or that Jason is in the training room with Dick joining him occasionally. He can’t pick a fight with Tim or have Dick try to mediate the conflicts between himself and Jason. No nightly patrols with three or four people talking over the comms, or near instantaneous backup when he gets into a tight spot. There is no Alfred or Barbara or Cassandra or Bruce here. Only Damian.

He looks down at his laptop, at the various information and images of Marinette that he has up on his screen. In good conscience, he can’t continue being friends with her. Not with the possibility that she is the person he’s trying to hunt down.

He remembers her saying that being lonely is different than being alone.

Damian is lonely.

Patrol is a necessary evil.

Ladybug doesn’t hate patrol. She’s not very fond of it, though. It cuts into time that she could be spending sleeping or designing or anything else, really. In the beginning, it started as a way to figure out how everything worked under the guise of the dark and without the constant threat of an akuma hanging over head. Then, it progressed into disproving the theory about Ladybug’s age, because civilians aren’t inclined to believe that a teenage girl who has school the next day would patrol every day in the early morning. Now, it shows the Parisians how devoted Ladybug is-- that’s something that she’s struggled with ever since withdrawing the Miraculous from all of the part time heroes-- and lets Marinette blow off any steam that she has.

Right now, Marinette needs to blow off a lot of steam. Still, even as Ladybug, as much as Marinette wants to scream to high hell and back about how she’s been friends-- very close friends, she’d dare to say-- with the same person who has been terrorizing Paris for years, she can’t. If she screams, there will be media coverage on it, and she doesn’t want to deal with what the press would write up some article about how Ladybug was overworked and needed to bring back the other heroes, or that Ladybug wasn’t mentally sound enough to take care of Paris, she should just give up the Miraculous, or that Ladybug’s scream was [insert some poetic nonsense that English teachers wax about for hours even though the author never intended the audience to read that deeply into it].

Marinette doesn’t want to admit it, but she’s gotten close to Damian. She’s as close to him as she is with Kagami, Luka, Jagged and Penny. Damian knows that she’s MDC. He knows her hopes and aspirations. He knows her family, knows the majority of her friends, and knows what’s important to her. It will be so easy for him to tear her apart now. Marinette isn’t sure what Hawkmoth is waiting for, but she almost hopes that he’ll get it over with sooner rather than later.

What will Hawkmoth do first? Go after the website that he helped her make, probably. Cut off the financial support that she could use to run away and create another identity. Then, he’ll go after her friends, few and far as they may be. Renee next. Her family, last. She wonders who Mayura is, if he is Hawkmoth. She hasn’t seen anyone that’s close to him. Then again, Damian reveals next to nothing about himself. She’s never even seen where he lives.

There’s a shadow on the rooftops.

God, of course Hawkmoth would send out an akuma today. He knows how horrible her mental state must be. There’s no way he wouldn’t take advantage of that.

She yoyos over to the shadow, not close enough to strike or apprehend, but close enough to easily give chase without the akuma being able to give her the slip.

“Ladybug,” the akuma says.

“Cut the crap. We all know you want the Miraculous, Hawkmoth. Let’s get to it.” The shadow steps forward where a street lamp illuminates its costume, and once again, she is assaulted by the barrage of colors on her eyes. After seeing how awful Damian’s color coordination was, it’s easy to come to terms with the awful designs of all of his costumes. Still, she’s surprised that the boy who dresses in the same outfit every day creates such outlandish costumes for all of his minions.

The akuma frowns, tenses.

“I’m not Hawkmoth,” it insists. “I’m Robin, a vigilante from Gotham. I’ve come to learn more about the current situation and aid you in taking Hawkmoth down.”

Ladybug scoffs. She’s not sure what this akuma’s tactic is, but none of the others have tried to lie to her so blatantly about their identity. And ripping off an identity? That is a new low, even for Hawkmoth. She’s sure that the real Robin didn’t agree to this, and if she were close with the vigilante, maybe she could get him to throw a lawsuit or two at Hawkmoth once he was in custody, just for kicks.

Robin the akuma scrambles, apparently looking for something that can verify his identity.

Ladybug strikes. There’s no pride in striking an opponent when they are distracted, but it’s a means to an end. If Damian is dumb enough to send out an akuma confused about its identity tonight of all nights-- a night where Ladybug is distressed and it would be all too easy to take advantage of her-- then she’s going to take advantage of it.

It’s easy to bind the akuma. Startlingly easy. The akuma is different tonight, then. His powers have something to do with close contact, maybe? Ladybug looks on his person for things that could be the point of akumatization, eyes flitting from Robin’s waistband to his mask.

She comes to an unpleasant conclusion. The measurements and the coloring are a perfect match. Hawkmoth has come to meet her in person.

“Damian,” Ladybug hisses.

Damian’s eyes widen, like he doesn’t know how she’s pieced together his identity. How stupid does he think she is? He’s been dropping hints constantly. Information a transfer to Paris shouldn’t know. Never telling Marinette anything personal. Always being near an akuma attack when it happens. It’s almost like he wanted her to figure out his identity.

“How did you know?”

“Please, Hawkmoth, did you really think that Marinette couldn’t connect the dots? You must have thought awfully little of her if you thought that your constant appearances near all of the akuma and questions about the Miraculous didn’t lead me to your identity.”

“Hawkmoth? Ladybug, I’m not Hawkmoth, I’m Robin.”

“And I’m the queen of England. Renounce your Miraculous now, Hawkmoth. Or I’ll beat you until you detransform and take it from you.”

Damian looks confused before his face contorts to an expression of resignation. He recognizes a cold fury in her eyes that is distinct to people who won’t give up until they get their way, and there’s really no other way around this right now. He should have brought his comm with him, but he wasn’t expecting to meet Ladybug tonight; he just wanted to assess the situation as Robin, to get out from his apartment for a second. Rookie mistake.

True to her word, Ladybug beats Damian unconscious and also until he’s black and blue. She’ll be lying if she didn’t say she took out some of her fury from the past years on him.

But here’s the thing; Damian doesn’t detransform. He stays in his god-awful costume that has the same disgusting shade of mustard yellow as that one top Damian owns. That’s not what’s supposed to happen. When Miraculous users faint, they detransform because it takes a sort of mental awareness to handle the powers bestowed upon them. Is it different because Damian is an akuma? Is there some sort of Miraculous bylaw that if a Miraculous user gets akumatized, they get to stay in their alternate form? Oh wait, that’s right, he’s an akuma, not Hawkmoth right now.

Ladybug stumbles forward, breaking all of the weapons that are on his belt, taking off his mask and breaking that as well. No akuma comes out. She tries his gloves, then his boots. She pats him down, seeing if there’s anything she missed. She rips his suit, too. Nothing. There’s no brooch in his personal effects either.

What is she supposed to do now?

Seeing no alternative, Ladybug picks Damian up and yoyos back to Tom and Sabine’s Boulangerie to safely detransform and figure out what the fuck is going on.

He’s not Hawkmoth, is the conclusion Marinette comes to after a side by side comparison of pictures of the vigilante and Damian. The horrifying conclusion: the person lying on the floor of her bedroom is actually Robin, the vigilante from Gotham.

Marinette knows it’s better to err on the side of caution, but she still buries her head in her hands in embarrassment. How can she have gotten him so wrong? She really needs to get better at reading people, because deciding that random civilians are Hawkmoth clearly has not paid off.

She also cannot believe that the Justice League has decided to step in now, and with a sidekick from America, of all things--Marinette is pretty sure that she sent the videos to the European branch. It must have been three years since her first notification to them. She contacted them immediately after Stoneheart, and again, after Syren when she was distraught at the death that surrounded her. With no response, there was nothing she could do. She has to start relying on herself and her own skills.

Ladybug only contacted them once more, after Heroes’ Day. At that point, Ladybug had been thinking for a while that someone who was naturally superpowered or someone with a high grade of intelligence-- like the heroes affiliated with the Justice League-- would do more harm than good if they were allowed in the city. After the devastation of her teammates being akumatized, and the nearly week long battle that ensued, she was certain that she could barely fight her teammates, let alone trained professionals. So with shaky hands and red rimmed eyes, she said to please disregard her earlier messages; the situation in Paris wasn’t that bad, and Ladybug could handle it.

Damian groans. Marinette jumps; he is waking up far earlier than she anticipated. She wants to transform back into Ladybug. Being in her spots gives her a pseudo sense of security. First, though, she has to restrain him. Even though he isn’t Hawkmoth, she’s not sure whether he’s a threat or not. She makes quick work of it, using the thickest zip ties that she has on hand and restraining his arms and legs.

She doesn’t get the chance to transform back into Ladybug, but that’s just as well, because at the end of the day, Marinette is the foundation of anything that makes Ladybug a hero to the public. Damian opens his eyes almost immediately after she has finished restraining him, taking in his surroundings and the person in front of him.

“Marinette? Where’s Ladybug?” No questions of how he got there; Ladybug can clearly carry her own weight and more. No questions as to why there are zip ties cutting into his wrists and ankles; he has seen too many of Marinette’s victims on the streets.

“What do you mean, where’s Ladybug?” Marinette is right in front of him. She might not have the suit on, but at the end of the day, she does have the Ladybug Miraculous, which means she’s Ladybug through and through, and Damian must know that. Otherwise, there’s no real reason for Robin to be spending so much time with Marinette. The fact that she feels more real and true to herself as Marinette than as Ladybug probably means nothing to him.

“She knocked me out on a rooftop. Didn’t know that you two knew each other personally. I’m not Hawkmoth, by the way.” He twitches, then realizes that he’s been tied up. “Why’d she leave me with you?”

So he doesn’t know that she’s also Ladybug? This whole thing keeps getting more confusing. Still, the less people that know about her alter ego, the better. Marinette will keep him in the dark. She attributes his blatant misunderstanding to the identity concealment magic of the Miraculous. It’s powerful stuff. If it didn’t exist, she’s sure she would have found concrete evidence as to who Hawkmoth is by now.

“She asked me to assess whether you were a threat or not. Whether or not she casts the Miraculous Cure is contingent on my response.”

“Ladybug wants you to assess whether I’m a threat or not? Why’d she leave a possible super villain with a civilian?”

“I help Ladybug out with many things.” Her voice turns to clinical detachment. She uses this method to dissociate as Ladybug when things get overwhelming. Assess the situation. Get in, deakumatize, get out. Marinette needs to distance herself. It’s bad enough that the situation is this convoluted, but she doesn’t need Damian to doubt Ladybug’s capabilities as well. “Ladybug knows that you’re not Hawkmoth now, and she knows that I can handle myself with any run of the mill bad guy, even if they are a supposed vigilante.”

“Tell me, Robin,” Marinette spits the name like a curse, “Why should I tell Ladybug that you’re not a threat? That you are who you say you are?”

In all honesty, all Marinette wants to do is knock Damian out again so she can collect her thoughts. She’s not sure how she should address his presence as Robin in Paris and is still reeling from the whiplash of thinking he was Hawkmoth only for him to turn into a foreign vigilante. Next thing she knows, he’ll tell her that his name isn’t even Damian Grayson. Well, now that she thinks about it, he’s definitely not. After this encounter finishes, she’ll look up Damian and Gotham and see what she gets.

He looks flustered, like he never expected anybody to question his identity or presence. It’s laughable, really. Marinette doubts that the Justice League actually sent him; he’s probably here to explore on his own. That means he’ll only be a pain in the ass to deal with. Maybe she needs to get into contact with the Justice League again, if only just so she can deport Robin with more ease.

“I can call Batman,” he says.

Marinette doesn’t think this is a very good solution. There’s no way for her to prove that the person on the other side actually is Batman and not some actor. But after racking her brain, she can’t come up with a much better solution. It’s not like Robin has any superpowers that she can request to see, and she doesn’t have a direct line to anybody from the Justice League.

“Fine. Call Batman.”

“It’s in the pocket near on my right side.” Marinette doesn’t bother going closer to him. She destroyed everything on him earlier, in case it was the akuma’s vessel. Ladybug thought she came across a phone, but now she’s glad she smashed it and left it on that random rooftop. He probably has some sort of tracker on his phone. In any case, Marinette thinks it’s weird for a vigilante to have a phone on them while on the rooftops. Shouldn’t he have an earpiece or something?

“Your phone was destroyed by Ladybug. Tell me the number to call. I’ll put it on speaker.” Marinette isn’t sure if the number he’ll have her call will be some sort of secure connection or direct line that is only accessible through Damian’s phone, but she doesn’t particularly care because the Miraculous Communicators are exactly that. Miraculous. Master Fu assured her that all communications were private and impossible to crack unless they also had a Miraculous. Which is why she’s using the Miraculous Communicator to call Batman.

Damian winces, then speaks into the offered phone.

“Batman, it’s Robin. I need to verify my identity in order to proceed.”

“Are you with Ladybug?”

So he is on a mission, then, and not just playing hooky. If Batman is involved, Marinette has no doubt the rest of the Justice League will follow soon. This will be a dreadfully unpleasant call.

“I’m making it a video call,” Marinette says. “And no, he’s not with Ladybug. I’m Ladybug’s point of contact, and she doesn’t take kindly to people encroaching on her territory without permission.”

“Robin, what happened?” Batman isn’t accepting her video request.

Marinette cuts off whatever Damian is about to say. “Damian was suspicious; I reported his activities to Ladybug and she believed that he could be Hawkmoth. Then, she caught him on the roofs and took him back to my place after verifying that he wasn’t Hawkmoth. Video call, Batman. I’d like to see that you are who you say you are, before I send Robin back to the states.”

“She knows your civilian identity? Two people know that you’re Robin?”

“Turn your video on. If you can’t prove that you are who Damian says you are, Ladybug and I will do everything in our powers to deport him and make sure that the Justice League is not allowed in Paris again. Ladybug said that she doesn’t need any unknowns in her city, and I’ve been hoping Robin came here of his own volition. It sounds like that isn’t the case.”

Marinette thinks that Batman curses in English, but she’s not sure. Fluent though Marinette may be, she is not well versed in curses, colloquialisms, or American memes. The camera turns on. It’s Batman, or at the very least, an actor wearing a very good knock off costume.

It’s annoying that Marinette can’t see his eyes. There’s some white film where his eyes should be, and the fact that his cowl covers more than half of his face isn’t doing her any favors in letting her read his facial expression. She moves herself so that Batman can see both her and Robin.

“Why is Robin restrained?”

“Like I said: he was suspicious. I’m not taking any chances.”

A moment of silence.

“How do you want me to prove my identity?”

That’s good. He’s not asking who she is, though she’s sure that there are cameras pointing at the screen on Batman’s end, running facial analysis and background checks on her. The Miraculous magic will ensure that any connections between her and Ladybug will not come to light. Other than her identity as Ladybug, Marinette has nothing to hide.

“If you’re Batman, then you should have access to the League’s calls, European and otherwise. Play me the last video that Ladybug sent you. I know what she said.” She spares a glance at Damian. His jaw is tight, but when he looks at her, she finds what looks like regret. It’s not entirely Damian’s fault. A mission is a responsibility, and Marinette understands that in order to be a hero or vigilante, one must be willing to do anything to accomplish the mission. Really, she’s only Ladybug because she feels that heavy weight of the words duty and responsibility on her shoulders. Fu’s fault.

“Behave. If you try something, I’ll knock you out.” Marinette sets the communicator on her desk and eyes him. The zipties are so tight around his arms and legs that he is bleeding. Marinette feels a flash of sympathy, then pushes it away. It was his fault for-- why was he at fault, again?

“I have the video.” Batman sounds even peakier than when they started the call. He plays the video.

“Justice League. This is Ladybug. I rescind my requests for help; I can take care of Paris with my own team. Any help from you at this point would be a detriment and could potentially harm the citizens of Paris. Hawkmoth manipulates strong emotions, and I don’t need to handle a metahuman or tactical genius to gain more power to wreak havoc on my city. I will not contact you with any further requests for assistance.”

It’s an awful video. Marinette had to wait a day after the Heroes’ week fiasco just so her eyes wouldn’t be red. At least her voice doesn’t waver in it. There’s a conviction in the whole video that was unique to that moment.

Marinette looks at Batman, then at Robin.

“Clearly the Justice League refused to listen. Ladybug doesn’t want or need your help at this point in time. Why are you here?”

“The Justice League is at fault for not paying attention to Ladybug’s other videos. But Mayor Bourgeois and President Macron can only cover such alarming incidents for so long. Ladybug and her… team clearly need help in order to find and take down Hawkmoth, so once the American branch of the Justice League found out half a year ago, we started to investigate.” Batman speaks in lieu of Damian. Marinette briefly wonders if Damian knows who Batman is under the mask. She bets he does. They’re probably close, what with how worried Batman sounds.

“What makes you think that the Justice League is any better equipped to handle this situation? Ladybug and her team have been fighting for the past three years and resolved every akuma with no help from you. She needed your help in earlier years. Now she doesn’t.”

“Exactly; it’s been three years and she still hasn’t caught Hawkmoth.”

“You say that like the Justice League doesn’t have a team with more wealth and manpower than Ladybug does that’s been looking into Hawkmoth and the Miraculous for the past half year and clearly has not found any reasonable leads. Ladybug has only been actively looking for Hawkmoth for the past two years, not three. The police handled the first year, not that you’ve done any homework on the situation. Thought that a field agent would help your chances?”

There is fire in Marinette’s stomach. Batman sounds so dismissive of all of the work that she’s been doing. It’s been hard on her; she doesn’t have the support that she needs and doesn’t have the experience or expertise to hunt down Hawkmoth on her own. She trained briefly under Master Fu to learn spells and ways to expand her powers as Ladybug, but that was an equivalent exchange: she no longer trusts that other holders won’t be akumatized. Her growing cynicism and physical training from Maman came at the expense of Chat Noir; after the whole Lila incident in her first year as Ladybug, she found out that Chat Noir and Adrien were one and the same. And Gabriel Agreste is not afraid to use his son until Adrien is stretched far too thin, which forced Marinette to nearly bench her partner.

“Three years,” Batman says again.

“If the Justice League can’t figure it out nearly unlimited resources and funding in half a year-- both ordinary and super human-- then clearly it isn’t a question of time. It’s a question of capability. Get off your high horse, Batman. You haven’t given me any reasons why Ladybug and I shouldn’t deport Robin here, and you’re definitely not making a good case as to why she shouldn’t go to Mayor Bourgeois and France’s president to ensure that the Justice League and its affiliates and ban hero travel into Paris. Bourgeois already doesn’t want information on it’s supervillain situation to get out.”

“Marinette,” Damian pleads.

As Robin and as Damian, he doesn’t pose a threat. He hasn’t been helpful, but he certainly hasn’t messed with the status quo for the month that he’s been here. Still, he is a liability. If he stays in Paris, he is the gateway for the other members of the Justice League to fly in and try to commandeer the fragile balance that she has found. She can’t afford for something like that to happen.

“You’re not any better, Robin. Why did you even hang around me? Thought I was a threat?” Her eyes narrow in realization. It makes sense why he decided to hang out with her, despite his initial cold front. He was playing a role.“You thought I was Hawkmoth.”

His silence is an agreement.

“We just want to help,” Damian says, and against her better judgement, Marinette believes him.

Her shoulders round, and Marinette sighs. She can’t truly begrudge Damian for that train of thought, not when she believed the same about him. She’s been a little harsh on them so far, in part due to old resentment that they never responded to her in that first, awful year when she needed the help.

There’s a dull tiredness that comes with knowing someone who she considered one of her closest friends suspected her of being a supervillain, though she did believe the same of him, so maybe they’re even. It still hurts, though. It hurts like when Alya decided that Marinette was mean-hearted enough to stop the members of their class from reaching their full potential. It hurts like when Marinette finally realized that she couldn’t repair their friendship, not to what it used to be. It hurts like when she looked around the classroom and realized that she couldn’t talk to anyone there. It hurts like when Marinette decided that she couldn’t risk helping her friends the way she wanted to.

“What kind of help can you offer us? We don’t need any more of you to come out here.” Resources are nice. More money to fund therapy programs around town won’t hurt. Master Fu doesn’t help on that part. Really, he doesn’t help at all. Even though she has Chat Noir and had a team, she often feels like it’s herself against the world. Some days, she reaches up to her earrings and feels an aching emptiness, like there’s something more to the Miraculous that’s been sealed away.

“We can give you resources. Money, connections, experience. Robin is good with technology. He can help you track down where Hawkmoth is.”

Marinette’s laugh is bitter. “Sure, he can try, but the butterflies Hawkmoth sends out aren’t visible by the normal human eye or electronically until they’ve found their mark. Once they’re purified, they’re just normal butterflies, and they go off in random directions.”

“Normal human eye? It sounds like there are exceptions.” Damian readjusts himself. He has fidgeted his way into an uncomfortable looking seiza position, where his ankles are bleeding.

“A true holder can see the butterflies at all times.”

Marinette also decides to throw them a bone so there’s no questions as to why a mere civilian is working with Ladybug. “That’s why Ladybug recruited me. I was Multimouse.”

Multimouse was in the file that Damian sent his father, but he asks, just to make sure. “The one that can split itself?”

“That’s correct. I guess now is as good a time as any for the two of you to get your questions answered.”

“Why are you the point of civilian contact instead of any of the other more frequently used heroes? Didn’t you appear only once?” Damian avoids looking Marinette in the eyes, and that makes her feel slightly better. He’s ashamed of his actions. Good.

“Ladybug said that the other hero’s civilian forms were either compromised or not in a good position.”

“Ladybug knows who all the holders are.” Batman speculates. He looks less tense now that Damian is no longer tied up, but his voice remains gravelly and distrubed. Maybe that’s what he sounds like all the time. “Who else knows? Do you?”

“Only Ladybug knows.” Marinette lives in half truths. She’s not sure that they’re much better than lies, but they’re all she has. Secrecy is the only thing Master Fu has sincerely taught her.

“Why have all the other heroes disappeared?”

“Ladybug said that it was too dangerous for someone who could be akumatized to hold a Miraculous. Rena Rage, Shell Shock, Queen Wasp-- they were all frighteningly powerful akumas. It’s also why Chat Noir has been showing up less and less; his home life is not the best, and she’s trying her best to ensure that he doesn’t get akumatized.”

“She’s not worried for herself or,” Damian’s eyes flick to Marinette, away from Batman. “For you?”

“She knows that both of us are good at dealing with stress. We have our own methods of coping.” She looks at Damian, her mouth tightening into a frown. “If you want to stay in Paris, I’ll cut you a deal. We can work together for two weeks, and if we don’t get any results, you have to leave and the Justice League must promise that they won’t interfere again.”

“Two weeks isn’t enough time,” Damian objects.

“If you don’t think it’s enough time, just leave now. I’ll say now that I’m only willing to work with you during the night. That’s the time I work on Miraculous related stuff now, anyways. And stay out of the akuma battles.” She doesn’t actually think that working together will help anyways, and she wants Damian gone sooner rather than later. He’s been making her feel too much and emotions that are far more explosive and easy to take advantage of than Marinette has in a long time. She doesn’t want to be targeted by an akuma because of her inner conflict.

“Two weeks, then,” Batman agrees. “Robin can contact me if you need any extra resources.”

Marinette hangs up and assesses Damian. He looks almost pitiful, with bruising around his eyes, tousled hair, a ripped suit, and cuts where his skin is exposed. She opens her trap door in a clear gesture for him to depart. Downstairs is dark; her Maman and Papa have long since gone to sleep, and it’s only a few more hours until they wake up to start baking. “We start tomorrow. If you need Ladybug for anything, tell me.”

He’s half way down the ladder when he looks back up at Marinette, into her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he says.

Marinette can’t breath. She feels like vomiting. His eyes are so green in comparison to the purple bruising on his face. She did that to him. She made him look that way. All she’s ever wanted to do as Ladybug is protect the people she cared for. But Damian-- Marinette doesn’t know. She doesn't know whether what Damian has done can actually be described as bad. He was just trying to do what Batman told him to do. Keeping an eye on a threat. Marinette wonders how long he thought she was Hawkmoth. She wonders if he ever thought they were friends.

“I’m sorry too,” Marinette says, and shuts the trap door.

They’re both sorry for very different things.

#miraculous ladybug #dcu #mlb x dc #maribat #daminette #batfam #jason todd #bruce wayne #dick grayso #barbara gordon #sbgs #original content #adrien agreste #lila rossi #marinette dupain cheng #damian wayne

212 notes · View notes